European manufacturing shows signs of recovery in December, after the severe difficulties experienced in the previous months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In detail, in the current month the Eurozone manufacturing PMI Flash IHS Markit it rose to 55,5 from 53,8 in November, while the services index rose to 47,3 from 41,7. December's Eurozone composite rose from 45,3 to 49,8, the highest in two months.
IHS Markit points out that “it is encouraging to note that forecasts for future activity have leapt to record level in 32 months, as recent news on vaccine developments fueled rosier expectations.”
“In December, the performance of the eurozone economy was better than expected”, comments the chief business economist at Ihs Markit according to which “The data suggest that, after the return to the sharp contraction in November caused by the severe anti-Covid restrictive measures -19, the economy is nearing stabilization. Even if the picture is very varied from a sectoral point of view, the contraction in the fourth quarter therefore seems much less profound than in the first months of the year, when the economy was hit by the pandemic".
As far as individual Member States are concerned, in Germany estimates show signs of resistance. In detail, the PMI manufacturing index rose in the current month to 58,6 from 57,8, the highest in 34 months. Services activity also rose slightly with the index at 47,7 from 46. The flash data of the composite index shows a rise to 52,5 in December from 51,7, a two-month high.
In France on the other hand, the PMI flash composite of output calculated by IHS Markit rose to 49,6 from 40,6 in November, recording the highest level in the last 4 months.
Outside the Eurozone, good news also comes from Britain where the flash composite output index calculated by IHS Markit in December increased to 50,7 from the 49 recorded in November, thus exceeding the threshold of 50 which indicates growth in activity. The flash services activity index rose to 49,9 from 47,6 and the manufacturing index rose to 57,3, a 37-month high, from 55,6 in November.
Positive data on manufacturing pushes the European stock exchanges which by mid-morning were all up sharply: Frankfurt +1,58%, Paris +0,81%, London +0,94%. Milan joins the positive sentiment and rises by 0,89%, returning above 22 thousand points.
