(CercleFinance.com) – The European stock markets fell slightly (-0.3% in London, Frankfurt and Paris), against the backdrop of a PMI index in the euro zone which is reassuring for activity, but rather worrying in terms of inflation two days before the ECB meeting.
Rising to 49.2 in February, the euro zone’s HCOB composite PMI reached its highest level in eight months, indicating that overall activity is moving closer to stabilization, thanks to a timid return to growth. of the service sector.
Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at the Hamburg Commercial Bank, emphasizes, however, that ‘the inflation of prices charged in the services sector, fueled by the sharp rise in wages, continues to accelerate’, despite a gloomy economic context.
‘The PMI data could therefore lead those in favor of postponing interest rate cuts to a later date to stick to their positions,’ he warns ahead of the ECB’s monetary policy meeting scheduled for 7 March.
On the UK side, the services PMI stood at 53.8 last month, compared to 54.3 in January, showing that while growth in the sector has slowed somewhat, it has remained at ‘solid’ levels in February.
In stock news, operators are cheering the annual results of the electronics group Thales (+7%) in Paris, while those of the agrochemicals and health group Bayer clearly leave them indifferent in Frankfurt.
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