Let’s applaud the good news for the world economy

THE gentle upswing in manufacturing should be welcomed rather than scoured for caveats.

The good news is that the global economy appears to have avoided a protracted downdraught, something that looked like a reasonable outcome last year. The US doesn’t have to carry the world on its shoulders, at least not quite to the same degree.

Nations that are important nodes in factory supply chains enjoyed an acceleration in March. While the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) gauge came in too hot for some traders’ liking, don’t let that crowd out a very solid performance from production lines and wharves in Asia.