Eurozone growth holds steady at six-year high in May
Staff Writer |
Eurozone economic growth continued to run at its fastest for six years in May, according to PMI survey data.
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Job creation also perked up to one of the strongest recorded over the past decade amid improved optimism about future prospects.Price pressures meanwhile remained elevated, albeit with some easing in input cost inflation.
The IHS Markit Eurozone PMI held steady at 56.8 in May, unchanged on April’s six-year high, according to the preliminary ‘flash’ estimate (based on approximately 85% of final replies).
Business optimism about the year ahead meanwhile revived to the joint-highest in the fiveyear history of the survey’s future output question.
Manufacturing led the upturn, with output growth accelerating to the fastest in over six years.
Service sector business activity growth also remained strong, easing only marginally from April’s six-year peak to underscore the broad-based nature of the upturn.
Overall new order growth waned slightly to the weakest in four months, linked to a mild moderation of inflows of new business into the service sector (albeit with growth still close to a six-year high).
Manufacturers enjoyed a boost from exports rising at the steepest rate since April 2011.
With backlogs of work across the two sectors registering the second-largest rise in six years, firms again took on staff at a pace rarely seen in the survey’s history in order to expand operating capacity.
The overall rise in employment was the second-largest since August 2007, with manufacturing adding jobs at the steepest rate in the survey’s 20-year history.
Service sector job gains matched those seen in April, sustaining the best spell of employment growth that the tertiary sector has enjoyed since early-2008.
The upturn continued to be accompanied by strong price pressures.
Average selling prices for goods and services rose at the second-fastest rate since July 2011, the increase falling just shy of March’s recent peak.
However, a mild easing in input cost inflation to a five-month low suggests some pressure may come off selling prices in coming months. ■