Statistical Notes Wednesday August 3

-Purchasing manager indexes for July gave mixed signals of U.K. economic growth as The manufacturing PMI fell from 51.4 to 49.1, while the non-manufacturing PMI rose from 53.9 to 55.4.

-By contrast, both the manufacturing and the non-manufacturing indexes for the U.S. fell back.

-Similarly, the euro area's manufacturing and non manufacturing PMI:s both fell back. Meanwhile. euro area retail sales recovered in June, but not enough to make up for May's decline so retail sales was still below April's level.

-Sweden's purchasing manager index fell to 50.1, barely below above the threshold for expansion, indicating that the previously very high growth rate is slowing dramatically.

-Industrial production in Latvia in June rose 4.1% compared to the previous month and 15.2% compared to June 2010, indicating that Latvia might finally catch up with the very high growth in neighboring Estonia and Lithuania.

-Retail sales in Australia rose slightly in June in real terms while the trade surplus fell.

-The extreme boom in retail sales in Hong Kong continued, increasing 28.8% in nominal terms and 22.2% in real terms in June compared to the same month last year.