The growth of economic activity in the Eurozone accelerated in August

By: Trademagazin Date: 2024. 08. 22. 12:07

Instead of the expected moderate slowdown, the growth of economic activity in the Eurozone accelerated overall in August, according to the preliminary values of the joint survey of the London-based economic research institute S&P Global Market Intelligence and the Hamburg Commercial Bank (HCOB) presented on Thursday.

The service industry purchasing manager index (BMI) is not final, its August value was the highest in four months, 53.3 points, exceeding July’s 51.9 points. Analysts expected the indicator to drop to 51.7 points.

The manufacturing BMI fell from 45.8 points in July to 45.6 points in August, an eight-month low. Experts expected a smaller weakening of the indicator, to 45.7 points.

The August value of the composite BMI, which aggregates data from the service industry and the manufacturing industry, rose to a three-month high of 51.2 points from 50.2 points in July, exceeding the 50.1 points indicating deterioration in the average of analysts’ expectations.

A BMI value above 50 points quantifies the growth rate of the performance of the analyzed economic activity, while a value below 50 points indicates the rate of decrease in performance.