The situation of services in the Eurozone improves slightly, but remains in a contraction phase. The related PMI index scores in April growth to 47 points, against 46,4 in March and a forecast of 46,6 points. The Italian data is also growing, which after the 45,5 points scored in March stood at 47 points, exceeding the expectations of analysts, which remained at 45,8, and reaching the highest since August 2011.
On the other hand, the German services sector worsens: the data relating to Germany recorded, in fact, a drop from 50,9 points to 49,6, falling below the 50 point threshold and therefore suffering from the first contraction in the activity in the last 5 months. Considering the composite index, which also takes into consideration the manufacturing sector, the German PMI dropped from 50,6 points to 49,2.
The French data shows signs of recovery, going up from 41,3 points in March, the minimum for 4 years, up to 44,3 points, above the estimates, which stood at 43,1. However, France's PMI remains below 50 for the ninth consecutive month. Bad for Spain, whose services index dropped to 44,4 points from 45,3, remaining below the 50-point threshold for the 22nd month in a row.
Despite the improvements (April's composite index for the Eurozone rose from 46,5 to 46,9 points), analysts expect another quarter of contraction for activity, while the “the risk of a protracted recession”.
