Feb. SA Services Activity Index 54.4
Jan. SA Services Activity Index 55.3
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Feb. Input Prices Index 59.6
Jan. Input Prices Index 58.5
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Feb. Prices Charged Index 53.5
Jan. Prices Charged Index 53.2
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FRANKFURT (MktNews) - The services activity index for the eurozone fell in February to its lowest level in nearly two years, Monday.
After its peak of 62.2 in April of last year, the index has fallen in each of the following ten months. However, the decline in services PMI this month is sharper than that in the manufacturing sector index.
Though the index shows that the service sector is still growing, the data reinforce the perception that the pace of economic growth in the euro area is slowing.
The eurozone services activity index fell to 54.4 in February from 55.3 in January.
An index reading above 50 signals that activity is expanding, a reading below 50 that it is contracting. The higher the reading above 50, the stronger the growth.
Four out of six subindexes rose slightly, but those increases were unable to counterbalance declines in new business and business expectations.
Business expectations fell to 68.4 from 70.1 in January. Business expectations reached their recent low of 66.6 in November 2000.
The new business subindex fell to 54.1 from 55.2 in January.
The outstanding business subindex rose to 51.2 from 50.9 in January while employment inched up to 54.7 from 54.6.
The prices subindexes both rose, though input prices accelerated faster than prices charged, indicating that although pipeline price pressures are rising, service companies are not passing these on in full.
Input prices rose to 59.6 from an upwardly revised 58.5 in January. Prices charged inched up to 53.5 from an upwardly revised 53.2 (52.9) in January. Prices charged reached a record high of 56.9 in September.
The euro-zone composite index for manufacturing and services output -- combining data from the services survey and the euro-zone purchasing managers' index -- fell to a seasonally adjusted 54.3 in February, its lowest level since April 1999, from an upwardly revised 55.3 (55.2) in January. The composite new businesses index declined to 53.6 from 54.5 in January.
The composite employment index fell to 53.5 in February after 53.7 in January, while the subindex for composite input prices dropped to 58.1 from 58.5 in January.