Latest data released by Markit - 7 April 2021
- Prior 43.1
- Composite PMI 50.1 vs 48.1 expected
- Prior 45.1
A modest beat as the services sector contracts at a slower pace than anticipated, though overall activity remains somewhat hampered by tighter virus restrictions last month. The composite reading is much improved but that also owes to the jump in manufacturing.
Markit notes that:
"Although continuing to contract, the latest data on Spain's services economy provided some hope of a stabilisation in the sector following a torrid few months. Activity and new business both fell at noticeably slower rates, whilst job losses were the weakest in over a year.
"Nonetheless, a third wave of COVID-19 infections currently sweeping European countries leads to concerns of a further tightening of COVID-19 restrictions offers clear downside risks for the nearterm, especially for Spain's key tourism sector which continues to struggle.
"Still, with vaccination programmes hopefully set to pick up pace in the second quarter of the year, many companies now see a clear path to recovery, with panellists widely suggestive of a strong recovery in economic activity in the second half of the year."
