It was a busy Eurozone economic calendar this morning. Member state and Eurozone private sector PMIs and Eurozone retail sales were in focus.
Member States
For Spain, the services PMI rose from 56.6 to 59.8 versus a forecasted 58.8.
Service sector activity in Italy also improved, with the PMI up from 52.4 to 55.9. Economists had forecast a rise to 54.8.
For France, the services PMI rose from 56.6 to 57.4, which was down from a prelim 58.2.
Germany’s services PMI increased from 52.4 to 52.7 which was down from a prelim 53.4.
The Eurozone
For the Eurozone, the services PMI increased from 54.6 to 55.9, which was down from a prelim 56.6.
As a result, the Composite PMI rose from 54.2 to 55.4, which was down from a prelim 55.8.
According to the November survey,
- In spite of the pickup in private sector activity, service sector growth masked the second-softest increase in manufacturing production since its recovery began in Jul-2020.
- New business continued to rise in November, though the rate of increase was the weakest since April. Significantly, a downward trend continued since July.
- Job growth accelerated across the private sector, as firms looked to boost capacities and address rising backlogs.
- Price pressures remained widespread, however. Both input costs and output charge inflation reached new survey highs.
- Business confidence weakened to a 10-month low, the declined attributed to service providers.
By Country
- Ireland registered the largest rate of expansion, with a 7-month low composite PMI of 59.3.
- Germany ranked at the bottom of the table, with a 2-month high composite PMI of 52.2.
Retail Sales
For the euro area, retail sales rose by 0.2% in October, after having fallen by 0.4%% in September. Economists had forecast a 0.2% rise.
According to Eurostat,
- Sales of automotive fuels increased by 1.3% and by 0.4% for non-food products.
- Food, drinks, & tobacco sales fell by 0.1%.
- Slovenia (+13.0%) and Portugal (+2.3%) recorded the largest increases in sales.
- Latvia (-5.4%), Austria (-2.8%), and Estonia (-2.6%) recorded the largest decreases compared with Sep-2021.
- Compared with October 2020, retail sales rose by 1.4%.
- Automotive fuel sales increased by 8.5%, and nonfood products by 2.5%. Food, drinks, & tobacco sales fell by 1.2%, however.
Market Impact
Ahead of today’s stats, the EUR had risen to a pre-stat and current day high $1.13076 before falling to a pre-stat and current day low $1.12817.
In response today’s stats, the EUR fell to a post-stat low $1.12851 before rising to a post-stat high $1.13040.
At the time of writing, the EUR was down by 0.01% to $1.12996
