The ailing world economy pumped out more gloomy data Friday, tempering general optimism after a G20 summit of world leaders agreed major funding to boost trade and rescue embattled economies. The US unemployment rate leapt to a 25-year high of 8.5 percent in March as employers shed a slightly higher-than-expected 663,000 jobs, weighing down stock markets and reminding investors that the crisis is not over by a long way. The outlook was dismal in Europe too, where the Spanish central bank forecast an unemployment rate of 19.4 percent next year and Ireland expected its recession-hit economy to shrink by about 7.0 percent in 2009. There was a note of optimism however as the Purchasing Managers' Index in the eurozone improved. The PMI level rose to 38.3 points from 36.2 points in February – still below a 50-point threshold that indicates contraction. The upward revision of the index “marginally boosts hopes that the rate of contraction could be starting to moderate,” said Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight, an economic research consultancy. There was also data from China indicating manufacturing activity expanded in March for the first time in six months, pointing towards a “stabilizing” economy following massive stimulus measures by Beijing. The official Purchasing Managers' Index for China's manufacturing sector rose to 52.4 in March from 49 in February, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said in data released late Thursday. “The PMI not only shows the government economic stimulus package has begun to take obvious effect but also indicates a stabilizing and warming economy,” National Statistics Bureau director Ma Jiantang said. Global stock markets were mixed, with Tokyo closing up 0.34 percent while Shanghai fell 0.23 percent. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 index was down 1.14 percent in afternoon trading while Frankfurt inched up 0.26 percent. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened down 0.08 percent. The G20 talks in London Thursday culminated in a $1.1 trillion (821-billion-euro) injection into major multilateral institutions such as the IMF to help battle the spreading global recession. US President Barack Obama hailed the moves as a “turning point” for the world economy but warned this did not guarantee swift recovery. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the talks ushered in a “new world order.” The outcome was generally well received by world media but there was a note of caution in some newspapers. “Some useful progress but still a way to go,” said an editorial in the Financial Times business daily published on Friday.
