Eurozone PMI Manufacturing dropped from 48.5 to 48.8 in February. PMI Services rose from 50.8 to 53.0, an 8-month high. PMI Composite rose from 50.3 to 52.3, a 9-month high.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence said:
“Business activity across the eurozone grew much faster than expected in February, with growth hitting a nine-month high thanks to resurgent service sector activity and a recovering manufacturing economy. February’s PMI is broadly consistent with GDP rising at a quarterly rate of just under 0.3%….
“However, although inflationary pressures have continued to moderate in February, the survey hints at persistent elevated price trends in the service sector, linked in part to higher wage growth, which will concern ECB policymakers….
“The combination of accelerating growth and stubbornly elevated price pressures will naturally encourage a bias towards further policy tightening in the months ahead.”
