Insight into France’s Services PMI in October 2017
The final Markit France services PMI (purchasing managers’ index) stood at 57.3 in October compared to 57 in September 2017.
Nov. 16 2017, Updated 9:03 a.m. ET
France’s Services PMI in October
According to data provided by Markit Economics, the final Markit France services PMI (purchasing managers’ index) stood at 57.3 in October compared to 57 in September 2017. This reading beat the initial estimate of 57.0.
In October 2017, France’s services PMI strengthened compared to September. The performance of France’s services PMI in October was mainly due to the following:
- Production volume and output rose at a faster rate in October 2017.
- New business orders and export orders rose rapidly in October 2017.
- The job growth in the service sector also rose in that month.
Performance of ETFs in October
The iShares MSCI France ETF (EWQ), which tracks France’s performance, rose 1.5% in October 2017. The Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (VGK), which tracks Europe’s (EZU) (IEV) performance, rose only 0.5% in the same month.
The stronger performance in France’s index indicates that investors remained optimistic about the domestic economy. International demand and domestic demand in the economy improved in October. The stronger improvement in France’s exports mostly drove its manufacturing and services PMI in October 2017.
In the next part of this series, we’ll analyze the services PMI for Spain in October 2017.