According to latest PMI data from IHS Markit, the recent soft patch in the eurozone economy continued into August, with activity rising modestly amid a marginal increase in new business. The recent pattern of services growth compensating for a downturn in manufacturing was repeated midway through the third quarter. August did see a drop off in confidence among companies in the single currency area, with firms becoming more wary of hiring additional staff as a result.

The Eurozone Composite PMI ticked up to 51.8 in August, up from July’s three-month low of 51.5 but still one of the weakest readings for six years.

Although narrowing slightly from the previous month, there remained a wide divergence in performance between the manufacturing and service sectors. Services activity continued to increase at a solid pace, with growth recorded in Germany, France and across the rest of the euro area. In contrast, manufacturing output was down for the seventh month running, albeit to a lesser extent than in July. While France was able to eke out production growth, falls were seen in Germany and outside of the ‘big-2’.

• Flash Eurozone Services PMI Activity Index rose to 53.4 from 53.2 in July, to 2-month high.

• Flash Eurozone Manufacturing PMI rose to 47.0 from 46.5 in July, to 2-month high.