Eurozone’s private sector improves noticeably in June

The report from IHS Markit revealed on Friday that activity in Eurozone’s services sector continued to recover ground from April’s record low during June.

According to the report, the IHS Markit Eurozone PMI Services Business Activity Index came in at 48.3 in June, up from 30.5 in May. This was the highest reading since February, but remained below the 50.0-nochange mark, indicating that the business environment for service providers continued to be challenging. Economists had forecast the indicator to increase to 47.3 in June.

Employment fell for the fourth month in a row, albeit at a slower rate than in May. The levels of work outstanding also continued to decline, albeit at a softer pace. Meantime, levels of incoming new business followed a similar trend to activity as demand struggled to gain meaningful traction despite the easing of lockdown restrictions across the region.

The IHS Markit Eurozone PMI Composite Output Index surged to 48.5 in June from 31.9 in the previous month, pointing to the softest contraction in private sector activity in four months. Economists had expected the index to increase to 47.5 in June.

The country-level data for June revealed that all countries enjoyed their best Composite PMI readings since February. Of note, growth was seen in France, which was the best-performing country overall. Spain moved close to stabilization, but activity continued to fall at solid rates in Italy and Germany. Ireland was the worst-performing nation.