Economic activity falls beyond expectationsEurozone. The PMI index calculated by Markit for the month of April slips to 47,4 points from 49,1 in March. Instead, analysts had forecast a rise to 49,3. The figure released today is the worst for five months, well below the much coveted "50 mark", which marks the border between expansion and contraction. In detail, the index relating to services falls from 49,2 to 47,9 points and that of the manufacturing sector falls from 47,7 to 46 points, the lowest even since June 2009.
"We were saying last month that we were probably going to have a second straight quarter of economic contraction, hence a recession, and now that talk extends to a third straight quarter," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit. There are no real growth drivers, suggesting that while the overall rate of decline is modest at the moment, we could see continued deterioration in the coming months".
A surprise it is Germany that registers the most sensational setback. The first European economy has marked a collapse of the index on economic activity from 51,6 to 50,9 points, the lowest since July 2009. As for the data on the manufacturing sector, Germany reaches 46,3 points, while the services index drops to 52,6 points.
In Italy the composite index fell from 49,1 to 47,4 points, also in this case the minimum for 5 months. The manufacturing index drops to 46 points and the services index to 47,9. In France, the overall index drops to a six-month low, 46,8 points, the manufacturing index drops to 47,3 points and the services index to 46,4 points.
