Latest data released by Markit/BME - 5 October 2020
- Composite PMI 54.7 vs 53.7 prelim
The preliminary report can be found here. The revision sees services activity remain in expansion territory, though there are still hints of the recovery in the sector losing steam amid the recent virus developments in the region.
But the economic recovery in Germany still remains intact for now, with the manufacturing sector pulling its weight for now. There will be more questions towards the end of the year but that will also still be subject to the virus situation in the country.
Markit notes that:
"Growth in the German service sector slowed to a crawl in September, as the rebound in activity from the COVID-19 lockdown continued to lose steam. However, when looking at trends elsewhere in the eurozone, the fact there was growth at all could be seen as a positive.
"COVID-19 infection numbers have been rising in Germany but not to the extent seen elsewhere in Europe, so while business sentiment among German services firms has started to wane, there hasn't been the same impact on actual services activity as seen in the likes of Spain and France.
"While the service sector is close to stalling, growth in Germany has been buoyed by a reviving manufacturing sector, which means the economy carries at least some momentum heading into the final quarter of the year. Germany is also doing slightly better than most of its eurozone peers in terms of employment trends, with the surveys pointing to some hiring across the service sector and a slowdown in factory job cuts."
