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Global data points to recession easing
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-05 08:28 Bank of America denied a Financial Times report that it planned to raise more than $10 billion even as it and Citigroup attempt to persuade the government they do not need to bolster their balance sheets. President Barack Obama's administration said it does not see a need to ask the US Congress for more money to support banks. Spokesman Robert Gibbs said there would be banks that will need more capital, but the administration would expect them to raise that on their own. Obama also vowed to overhaul tax policies he said reward companies for shifting US jobs overseas and allow rich people to evade taxes by using offshore accounts. A Step Closer Elsewhere, a reshaping of Europe's car industry moved closer as Fiat sought official German support for a plan to take over General Motors' European operations just four days after clinching a deal with Chrysler. Chrysler asked a US bankruptcy court for a swift hearing on its planned sale to Fiat. A series of global PMI surveys -- which record changes in items such as output, orders, employment, inventories and prices -- suggested the world economy may be past the worst. Markit's Final Eurozone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index of around 3,000 companies rose to 36.8 in April, its highest level since October. It was, however, the 11th consecutive month below the 50 mark, which divides growth from contraction. "It is still clearly recessionary but it can be said quite safely that the worst is behind us both in terms of industrial decline and of GDP," said Marco Valli at Unicredit. The US National Association of Realtors said pending sales of previously owned homes rose 3.2 percent in March, the second straight month with a gain, suggesting a moderation in the housing slump. A Commerce Department report showed construction spending rose 0.3 percent in March, its first increase in six months. Hong Kong-based brokerage CLSA's China Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 50.1 in April from 44.8 in March, the first time since July 2008 the seasonally-adjusted index climbed above 50. In India, the ABN AMRO Bank purchasing managers' index rose to 53.3 from March's 49.5, its highest in seven months.
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