Back
21 May 2015
Eurozone manufacturing PMI at 13-month high in May, services PMI at 4-month low
FXStreet (Mumbai) - The flash Eurozone manufacturing PMI rose to a 13-month high of 52.3 in April, beating the estimate of 52.00. The services PMI fell to 4-month low of 53.3, missing the estimate of 63.9, and down from April’s 54.1.
Growth of new business inflows moderated for a second month running to register the smallest monthly gain since February. Companies’ average input costs rose at the steepest rate since April 2012, driven up by a combination of higher oil prices, increase in wages and rising import costs due to the weakness in the Euro.
Still, the selling prices continued to fall, although the decline was only marginal and the smallest recorded in the current 38-month sequence of reductions.
As per Chris Williamson, Chief Economist at Markit, “The eurozone’s recovery lost some of its vigour in May, with growth slowing slightly for a second successive month. At the moment the extent of the slowing is not a major concern, but will no doubt be causing some nail-biting at the ECB as policymakers await signs that quantitative easing is the panacea the region needs to achieve a robust and sustainable recovery.
The average PMI reading for the second quarter so far points to GDP growth similar to the 0.4% expansion seen in the first three months of the year. This suggests the region is on course to expand by around 2.0% this year, which would be the best performance since 2010. However, we need to see a reversal of the current slowdown in new business growth if such a pace of expansion is to be achieved over the year as a whole."
Growth of new business inflows moderated for a second month running to register the smallest monthly gain since February. Companies’ average input costs rose at the steepest rate since April 2012, driven up by a combination of higher oil prices, increase in wages and rising import costs due to the weakness in the Euro.
Still, the selling prices continued to fall, although the decline was only marginal and the smallest recorded in the current 38-month sequence of reductions.
As per Chris Williamson, Chief Economist at Markit, “The eurozone’s recovery lost some of its vigour in May, with growth slowing slightly for a second successive month. At the moment the extent of the slowing is not a major concern, but will no doubt be causing some nail-biting at the ECB as policymakers await signs that quantitative easing is the panacea the region needs to achieve a robust and sustainable recovery.
The average PMI reading for the second quarter so far points to GDP growth similar to the 0.4% expansion seen in the first three months of the year. This suggests the region is on course to expand by around 2.0% this year, which would be the best performance since 2010. However, we need to see a reversal of the current slowdown in new business growth if such a pace of expansion is to be achieved over the year as a whole."