German PMI Hits 5 Month Low But Sill Expanding

Growth in Germany’s private sector hit a five-month low in February but remained solid, underpinned by a growing services sector, a survey showed on Thursday.

Markit’s final composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which tracks activity in the manufacturing and services sectors that together account for more than two-thirds of the German economy, inched down 54.1 from 54.5 in the previous month.

That was the weakest reading since September but still well above the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction, suggesting Europe’s largest economy remains robust in the face of a global slowdown.

Service sector output increased at a slightly higher rate than in January as new business came in at a quicker pace, and incoming new orders remained at an historically high level.

Business expectations in the services sector fell to a three-month low after hitting their highest level in almost five years in January.

“Today’s PMI results for Germany’s service sector offer some relief and suggest that the euro zone’s largest economy is not performing as poorly as signalled by the manufacturing numbers earlier this week,” said Markit economist Oliver Kolodseike.

German manufacturing almost stagnated in February and activity in the sector fell to a 15-month low.

“Although output rose by the smallest extent in three months, the underlying rate of growth was robust overall, helped by a further sharp rise in new business,” Kolodseike added.

via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza