Latest data released by Markit - 6 January 2021
- Prior 39.5
- Composite PMI 48.7 vs 45.6 expected
- Prior 41.7
Spanish services activity contracts in December but less so than estimated, with the fall being the slowest in five months. New work continued to reflect a decline but business confidence improved markedly to a two-and-a-half year high on vaccine optimism.
Markit notes that:
"Although confidence has grown markedly on the back of positive vaccine developments - which should hopefully mean the pandemic is moving well behind us by this time next year - near-term challenges for Spanish service providers persisted at the end of 2020.
"Ongoing restrictions on activities, particularly related to social contact, meant that output and new business volumes in the services economy continued to falter, especially again for those businesses linked to hospitality. Despite being notably weaker than the sharp declines seen during November, several companies again chose to cut jobs in response to dwindling workloads or continued closures at some business units.
"Whilst vaccines and their rollout will clearly unlock the pathway to recovery, the latest data provide a timely reminder that dealing with the virus and associated restrictions will continue to bear down on sector performance for some time to come."
