Europe is no longer falling behind!

Recently, a number of doomsday reports have appeared about the state of the European economy in general and the German economy in particular. However, this recent graph of European producer confidence tells a different story.

Source: JP Morgan, S&P Global PMI

When producer confidence breaks above the level of 50 points, then we are looking at an expansion of economic activity. Below this threshold, we are looking at contraction. It is clear that after a few difficult years, the European economy is now evidently in better shape, especially in the services and industrial sectors.

Pessimism about Europe therefore seems to be a long way off the mark.