Latest data released by Markit – 3 December 2021
- Composite PMI 55.4 vs 55.8 prelim
The preliminary report can be found here. Overall business activity picked up last month after having mostly slowed since July but the improvement belies the troubles faced by the manufacturing sector in particular.
“An improvement in the rate of economic growth signalled by the eurozone PMI looks likely to be short-lived. Not only did demand growth weaken, but firms’ expectations of future growth also sank lower as worries about the pandemic intensified again. With the data collected prior to news of the Omicron variant, sentiment about near-term prospects will inevitably have been knocked even further.
“Growth is looking especially subdued in Germany and France, where supply shortages have had a notably stronger knock-on effect from manufacturing through to services. More resilient expansions are being recorded in Spain and Italy, though even here recent gains are at risk if social distancing restrictions need to be stepped up.
“Prices have meanwhile continued their relentless rise, with rates of inflation in both firms’ costs and average selling prices for goods and services hitting new highs in November.
“While growth risks have shifted to the downside, risks to the inflation outlook seem tiled to the upside if virus case numbers continue to rise and new restrictions are introduced. Supply chains will be further hit, staff availability will deteriorate and spending could shift from services to goods again, further exacerbating the imbalance of supply and demand.”