Tertiary sector activity slows down in Italy, recording a drop in new orders and reaching the lowest level since March 2009, with consequent effects on employment. The services PMI last month, according to data from Markit and Adaci it settled at 43,0, a slight decrease compared to 43,1 in June, below the consensus which had expected a slight improvement to 43,5.
The data is kept like this very far from 50 points, which marks the watershed between expansion and contraction of the sector. “The PMI survey of July shows a worsening of the recession in the tertiary sector in Italy at the beginning of the third quarter”, explains Phil Smith, economist at Markit and author of the study, underlining that “the flow of new orders is declining at a strong monthly pace, and at a rate of contraction that has only been exceeded four times in the history of the survey, right at the height of the global financial crisis”.
In Spain, however, the services PMI index revealed by Markit Economics rose to 43,7 points from 43,4 points in June, exceeding analysts' expectations at 43 points. However, the index is well below the value of 50 points, signaling the continuation of the contraction phase of the Spanish tertiary sector.
