Latest data released by Markit/BME - 5 May 2021

  • Composite PMI 55.8 vs 56.0 prelim

The preliminary report can be found here. Amid the fresh wave of infections, German services activity is seen grinding to a halt as tighter restrictions also weigh on business activity in general. That said, overall economic sentiment is holding up largely thanks to the stellar performance in the manufacturing sector. Markit notes that:

"The tightening of COVID-19 lockdown measures in April stopped the service sector's recovery in its tracks, having led to renewed declines in activity at customer-facing businesses, the latest PMI data showed. However, the overall picture was more robust than seen during previous waves of the virus, helped by increasingly positive trends in sectors not directly affected by the restrictions.

"The continued strong performance seen in manufacturing is spilling over to services, notably supporting a rise in activity for transport & storage businesses. Moreover, both the manufacturing and services surveys show that hiring is picking up, which will help the recovery once restrictions can start to be loosened again.

"April's survey highlighted a continued rise in cost pressures across the service sector, albeit at nothing like the same rate as seen in manufacturing. As demand for many services is still subdued, output prices across the sector as a whole are increasing only steadily, albeit with some pockets of stronger inflation in areas such as transportation, with business margins suffering as a result."