Global economic output contracted in August for the first time since June 2020, according to the latest PMI survey data. Although only modest, the downturn reflects an increasingly broad-based deterioration of output and demand conditions both by sector and region. Companies are also taking a more cautious approach to cost control and employment in the face of the worsening economic climate. More encouragingly, price pressures have abated, with the rate of inflation of firms' costs having now cooled for a third month in a row to reach the lowest for one and a half years. The survey data therefore reflect how central ... (full story)