The Day at a Glance | August 23 2021

The Top

*Growth in Europe stabilized during August; services expanded more than manufacturing activities for the first time since the pandemic began.

*Retail sales in Mexico increased less than expected during June (17.7% annual vs 20.1% e.).

*The services sector in Japan recorded its largest contraction in 15 months during August due to the implementation of mitigation measures against the virus.

*Janet Yellen backs Jerome Powell for second term as Federal Reserve Chair.

*Germany`s economy could recover less than expected this year given the pandemic`s uncertainty: Bundesbank.

*China once again logs zero COVID-19 cases in its territory after a month of strict mitigation measures.

Economic environment

Growth remains strong in Europe. Europe`s timely PMIs for August recorded faster than expected growth in the services sector (59.7), and expanded more than manufacturing activities (59.2) for the first time since the start of the pandemic. With this, the economy continued facing limitations to log higher levels of growth given disruptions in supply chains and issues in the transportation of goods. Services, for their part, continue being boosted by the reopening. Despite the growing number of cases in the region due to the Delta variant`s spread, mobility restrictions and mitigation measures in Europe have gone down to their lowest levels since the start of the pandemic, which keeps the services sector`s revival going. The larger part of the economy remains in extraordinarily high levels of expansion, and its average growth during the 3Q21 is still the highest in the last 21 years. The creation of jobs stood out for a second consecutive month, while the acceleration in sales prices seems to have reached its peak, even though it continues to increase strongly.