Good News for U.S. Farmers, Coronavirus Effects, and Good News on Manufacturing

While we’ve seen some promising signs on economic activity (and even manufacturing, finally) out of New York and Philadelphia recently, the news hasn’t quite reached Chicago yet and the regional National Activity Index print fell both short of expectations and into contraction. Agricultural readings have us breathing a sigh of relief on behalf of the long-suffering American Farmer, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed the feeling won’t be short lived. If these farmers are anything like the rest of the American populous, they’re already living beyond their means—bad news for them and potentially a looming storm-cloud over our consumer-based economy. And as the coronavirus itself continues to spread, so too have its economic implications; Chinese markets and various commodities are already suffering under the weight of the new pandemic. There’s some good (and surprising!) news out of Germany however; after being a drag on the entire Eurozone for months, German Manufacturing PMI surprised to the upside this month. Could it be enough to establish some traction and revitalize the European manufacturing sector?