The worst of the recession in Europe may have ended, or at least the economy there is not deteriorating as fast as it has been. Markit issued its latest purchasing managers index (PMI) data for the region and said :
At 48.7 in June, up from 47.7 in May,the final Markit Eurozone PMI Composite Output Index indicated a further easing in the rate of contraction in economic output to a 15-month low.
The reading was below its earlier flash estimate (48.9), however, and signals that overall activity has now fallen in each of the past 17 months.
Another way to look at the data is that it is “less bad” than it has been recently, and the figures indicate that the slowing is fragile, at best.
The data also showed that several economies continue in period of PMI contraction, and other information about their GDP and employment situations support the notion the, in general, awful conditions have not improved:
Nations ranked by all-sector output growth (June)
Ireland 53.2 5-month high
Germany 50.4 3-month high
Spain 48.1 24-month high
France 47.4 10-month high
Italy 47.0 21-month high
A number of 50 is the break between expansion and contraction.
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