Euro area economic growth moved broadly sideways during August. The final IHS Markit Eurozone PMI Composite Output Index came in at 54.5, up slightly from the earlier flash estimate but only a marginal improvement on July's 54.3.

Rising activity has now been registered continuously for over five years, although growth in August remained well down on the rapid rates seen around the turn of the year. Both manufacturing production and service sector activity rose at similar and slightly faster rates. In line with the recent trend, national PMI data again pointed to a broad-based expansion of economic output