Eurozone PMI Manufacturing rose to 47.0 in August, up from 46.5 and beat expectation of 46.2. PMI |Services rose to 53.4, up from 53.2 and beat expectation of 53.0. PMI Composite rose to 51.8, up fro 51.5.
Commenting on the flash PMI data, Andrew Harker, Associate Director at IHS Markit said:
“The dynamics of the eurozone economy were little changed in August, with solid growth in services continuing to hold the wider economy’s head above water despite ongoing manufacturing decline. While the rate of overall expansion ticked up, we’re still looking at GDP only rising by between 0.1% and 0.2%, based on the PMI data for the third quarter so far.
“The lack of a quick rebound from the recent economic slowdown has impacted firms’ confidence, with sentiment the lowest in over six years. It appears that companies are braced for a sustained period of weakness, and as a result are showing greater reluctance to take on additional staff.
“France was a relative bright spot in August, seeing manufacturing return to growth alongside a further solid expansion of services activity. The same can’t be said for Germany, however, where new orders fell to the greatest extent in over six years and firms were pessimistic around the future path for activity. The risk remains, therefore, that the euro area’s largest economy will have fallen into technical recession in the third quarter.”
