1 Eurozone growth picks up speed (BBC) Eurozone
business activity rose at its fastest pace in four years in June, boosted by
higher spending by consumers and businesses, a survey has indicated. The final
Markit composite eurozone Purchasing Manages' Index (PMI), which combines
manufacturing and services activity, rose to 54.2, its highest reading since
May 2011. Any reading above 50 indicates growth, while below 50 points to
contraction.
It comes despite concerns over the possibility of a
messy Greek exit from the euro. Speculation that Athens would miss a €1.6bn
repayment to the International Monetary Fund held back manufacturing activity
in the month, Markit said.
But the European Central Bank's (ECB) massive €1
trillion bond-buying programme announced in March was beginning to help the
service sector, with activity running at its fastest rate since mid-2011. Price
discounting helped drive up the PMI covering the service industry, which makes
up the bulk of the eurozone economy. It rose to 54.4 from May's 53.8.
2 Solar Impulse completes longest non-stop flight
ever (Emma Howard in The Guardian) A solar plane attempting the world’s first
flight around the globe has landed in Hawaii, after breaking the record for the
longest non-stop solo flight in history.
Solar Impulse 2, piloted by the Swiss pilot André
Borschberg, took off from Nagoya in Japan at 3am on Monday, for the five-day
crossing of the Pacific Ocean, the riskiest leg of its journey. At 72 hours
into the eighth leg of its 22,000-mile circumnavigation, Borschberg broke the
endurance record for a solo flight.
“The next leg is what I call the moment of truth,”
he said before departing. “The first time we fly many days, many nights with a
solar-powered airplane, the first time that we fly over the ocean, the first
time that one pilot flies alone for so long. We are exploring new territories.”
Borschberg is sharing the round-the-world attempt,
completing alternate legs with his co-pilot Bertrand Piccard, who will now fly
the single-seater plane on a 100-hour leg to Phoenix, Arizona, in the US. Saving
power is key to the journey’s success, as the plane – fitted with 17,000
photovoltaic solar cells – must reach heights of 9,000 metres during the day so
that it can glide through the night. At top speed, it reaches 87mph.
During the 5,079-mile leg, Borschberg has spent
about four days, 21 hours and 51 minutes in the air and throughout the journey
has only been able to rest in 20-minute intervals. The 62-year-old veteran
pilot and engineer has had to endure temperatures close to 37C (100F) in the
cockpit. He said that yoga had been a “huge support” for sustaining a positive
mindset and helped to keep him alert. Tweeting throughout the journey,
Borschberg said that the fourth day of this leg had been tough, after he
“climbed the equivalent altitude of Mount Everest four times”.
3 South Africa consumer confidence at 14-year low
(Johannesburg Times) Consumer confidence in SA plummeted to a 14-year low in
the second quarter of 2015 - thanks to power outages, higher fuel and maize
prices, tax hikes and a slowdown in government spending.
Having declined from zero to minus 4 in the first
quarter, the First National Bank/Bureau for Economic Research's consumer
confidence index declined further to minus 15. A sub-index, measuring sentiment
on the future, plunged 14 points to minus 24, the lowest level since the
1992-1993 recession.
Extremely low levels of consumer confidence mean
consumer spending will be muted, which in turn knocks economic growth. The
minus 15 was not only far lower than the lowest reading of minus 6, recorded
during the 2008-2009 recession, but was also only the second time since 1994
that the index had dropped below minus 12.
A change in labour laws at the beginning of the year
that made it nearly impossible to hire workers for short periods might also
have led to a drop in temporary employment and a decline in take-home pay. Adding
to the woes, South Africa's worst drought since 1992 is pushing up grain prices.
The rand has weakened 5.6% against the dollar since the start of the year.
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