Bloomberg The French economy’s revival from the coronavirus lockdown appears stronger than anticipated, with a measure of private-sector activity showing growth for the first time in four months. IHS Markit’s Purchasing Managers Index jumped to 51.3 in June from 32.1 in May, beating economists’ expectations for 46.8. The individual gauges for both manufacturing and services also climbed above the 50 ...

Bloomberg The UK economy started to bounce back from the coronavirus this month as an early indicator of activity jumped. IHS Markit’s composite Purchasing Managers Index climbed to 47.6 from 30 in May. While that’s still below the critical 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction, the size of the monthly gain was the biggest since the survey began in ...

Bloomberg The World Trade Organisation (WTO) tempered its pessimism about the outlook for cross-border commerce, saying its worst-case scenario for this year will likely be avoided but warning governments against becoming complacent to lingering economic risks. The Geneva-based organisation estimated that global trade in merchandise dropped 3% in the first quarter and fell 18.5% in the second, according to a ...