Eurozone PMI Services was finalized at 52.6 in February, slightly up from January’s 52.5. PMI Composite was finalized at 51.6, up from 51.3. Looking at some member stats, they’re generally stuck at rather low expansionary reading. Italy PMI Composite was at 4-month high of 50.7. Germany’s Composite was finalized at 50.7, France at 52.0. Ireland, however, surged to 17-month high at 56.7.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit said:
“The eurozone economy showed resilience to disruptions arising from the coronavirus outbreak in February, but dig deeper into the data and there are signs that problems lie ahead… Exports of both goods and services are now falling at an increased rate due to virus-related downturns in demand, and increasingly widespread delivery delays threaten future production.
“In the service sector, growing numbers of companies are reporting lost business due to the virus spread, notably in sectors such as hotels, travel, transport and tourism but also even in areas such as financial services. While the PMI data so far for the first quarter are signalling a 0.1-0.2% increase in GDP, there are clear downside risks and a likely weakening of the economy in March.”
