• German private sector's economic activity continued to contract in early October.
• EUR/USD trades in negative territory below 0.9850 after the data.

Business activity in Germany's manufacturing sector continued to contract at a strengthening pace in early October with the S&P Global's flash Manufacturing PMI dropping to 45.7 from 47.8 in September. This reading came in worse than the market expectation of 47. 

The flash Services PMI edged lower to 44.9 from 45, compared to analysts' estimate of 44.7.

Commenting on the findings of the survey, "the flash PMI data show the downturn in German business activity gathering pace at the start of the fourth quarter, adding to the growing signs of an impending recession in the eurozone’s largest economy," said Phil Smith, Economics Associate Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

"We’re seeing weakness across the board in the survey data, with both the manufacturing and service sectors reporting accelerating rates of contraction, led by rapidly declining inflows of new work," Smith added.

Market reaction

EUR/USD came under modest bearish pressure and was last seen losing 0.18% on the day at 0.9842.