How Did France’s Services PMI Look in December 2017?
According to the data provided by Markit Economics, the final Markit France services PMI (purchasing managers’ index) fell marginally in December as compared to the previous month.
Jan. 17 2018, Updated 11:36 a.m. ET
France’s service PMI in December
According to the data provided by Markit Economics, the final Markit France services PMI (purchasing managers’ index) fell marginally in December as compared to the previous month. It stood at 59.1 in December as compared to 60.4 in November 2017. This reading didn’t meet the initial estimate of 59.4.
The weaker performance of France’s services PMI in December was mainly due to the following factors:
- Production volume and output rose at a weaker rate.
- New business orders remained unchanged, while the overall client demand was weaker.
- The employment growth in the service sector also slowed.
Performance of ETFs in December
The iShares MSCI France ETF (EWQ), which tracks France’s (PX1-INDEX) equity market performance, declined 0.3% in December 2017. On the other hand, the Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (VGK), which tracks Europe’s (EZU) (IEV) (N100-INDEX) performance, rose 1% in the same month.
France’s service activity has seen strong improvements in the past few months, but in December 2017, the weaker client demand hampered the overall performance of the service sector. However, due to strength in new orders and export orders.
In the next part of this series, we’ll analyze the services PMI for Spain in December 2017.