LONDON (Reuters) – The slowdown in economic activity in the euro zone deepened more than expected in August in the wake of the difficulties of the German economy, the largest in Europe.
The composite index, which combines services and manufacturing activity, fell to its lowest level since November 2020 at 47.0 against 48.6 in July, the results of the monthly survey carried out by S&P Global among directors of purchase (PMI).
A first estimate had given it at 50 and the composite index remains far from the estimate of economists polled by Reuters who expected 48.5.
“The eurozone services sector is unfortunately showing signs of decline in the face of poor performance in the manufacturing sector,” Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank, said in a statement.
The services index rose from 50.9 to 48.3, which is below the “flash” estimate at 50.5.
The manufacturing index rose from 42.7 to 43.7 in August.
(Jonathan Cable; French version Zhifan Liu, editing by Kate Entringer)
Copyright © 2023 Thomson Reuters