020 7898 0500It was a busy end to the week for the eurozone, with a raft of purchasing managers’ indices set for release. The composite and services PMI for Germany and the eurozone all came in below expectations which suggests growth is slowing across the eurozone. This is yet another data release that has disappointed and it will give the European Central Bank something to think about when it makes its decision on whether or not to extend quantitative easing beyond September 2018.
The figures were still around the mid-50s figures, which still points to robust sectors, but 2018 hasn’t been a great year for meeting expectations; there is a growing feeling that the eurozone’s economic projections were a little optimistic. Retail sales for March also missed expectations; year-on-year, they were forecasted to come in at 1.9%, but the figure was actually 0.8%, while month-on-month they grew by just 0.1% when 0.5% had been expected.
Yesterday we saw retail PMI from the eurozone, which came in at 48.6 and we also saw construction PMI for Germany which hit 50.9. Today we will see the balance of trade for Germany on an otherwise quiet day.
