German private sector activity contracted for the sixth consecutive month, at a slower pace than previously, shows an S&P Global/HCOB survey published Monday.
The composite index rose from 47.2 in November to 47.8 in December, below the threshold of 50 which separates growth and contraction in activity. The consensus was expecting 47.8.
The index for the services sector rebounded to 51.0 in December, compared to 49.3 in November and a consensus of 49.4.
“This improvement in the services sector offsets the faster decline in manufacturing production, which gives us hope that GDP did not contract during the last quarter of the year,” said Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at the Hamburg Commercial Bank.
The manufacturing index deteriorated slightly, falling to 42.5 from 43.0 in November and a consensus of 43.3.
“The manufacturing sector did not surprise on the rise. This is certainly not unexpected, because restructuring announcements are increasing,” adds Cyrus de la Rubia.
(Written by Maria Martinez, French version Corentin Chappron, edited by Augustin Turpin)
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