Business

Confirming the weakness in the preliminary print (and on the heels of China's major disappointment), Markit's US manufacturing PMI tumbled in April to its lowest since September 2016. ISM's Manufacturing Survey confirmed PMI's for once and collapsed from 64.5 to 57.5. Worse still, stagflationary pressures remain as new orders and output slump, input prices are rising at their fastest rate since Sept 2014.

Before scrolling down, take a guess at the three best and worst performing commodities of 2016 and 2017!

Ok now go…

2016 was a good year for commodities. The Bloomberg Commodity Index, which is a diversified benchmark for commodity investments, gained 10%.

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

The Fed likes to brag about the “We saved the world” recovery.

However, the unfortunate truth of the matter is a record Half of American Families Live Paycheck to Paycheck.

Does it Matter? Let’s investigate.

Unprepared for Nearly Anything

• Congress Inks Spending Deal That Jettisons Trump Priorities (BBG)
• Trump Pushes for Vote on Health Bill but Hurdles Remain (WSJ)
• Apple’s Cash Hoard Set to Top $250 Billion (WSJ)
• Hamas to soften stance on Israel, Muslim Brotherhood in policy document (Reuters)
• UPS Tries a New Twist on Surge Pricing (WSJ)
• How Does Trump’s Tax Plan Help the Middle Class? ‘Honestly, We Don’t Know’ (BBG)
• French voters skeptical Macron, Le Pen have answers on key issues (Reuters)

Besides the upcoming FOMC meeting on May 2-3, and French & Italian politics - the decisive runoff round of the French election takes place this Sunday - this week's releases are dominated by US payrolls expected to come around 170k. The busy release calendar continues with Norges bank and RBA meetings as well as global manufacturing PMIs.