German Preliminary Manufacturing PMI improves to 58.2 in October vs. 56.5 expected

• German Manufacturing PMI arrives at 58.2 in October vs. 56.5 expected.
• Services PMI in Germany drops to 52.4 in October vs. 55.0 expected.
• EUR/USD flirts with highs near 1.1640 on mixed German PMIs.

The German manufacturing sector quickens its pace of expansion in October, the preliminary manufacturing activity report from IHS/Markit research showed this Friday.

The Manufacturing PMI in Eurozone’s no.1 economy came in at 58.2 this month vs. 56.5 expected and 58.4 prior. The index reached its lowest in nine months.

Meanwhile, Services PMI dropped to six-month lows of 52.4 in October as against 55.0 estimated and 56.2 previous.

The IHS Markit Flash Germany Composite Output Index arrived at 52.0 in October vs. 54.0 expected and September’s 55.5. The gauge hit an eight-month low.

Key comments from Phil Smith, Principal Economist at IHS Markit

“October’s flash PMI data point to economic activity in Germany beginning to plateau at the start of the fourth quarter.”

“Growth has slowed to a modest pace, with supply bottlenecks holding back manufacturing production and the rebound in services activity continuing to lose momentum, in part due to supply issues spilling over to the sector.”

FX implications

EUR/USD is flirting with daily highs near 1.1640 on mixed German Preliminary PMIs, now trading at 1.1644, up 0.20% on the day.