Euro’s zone private sector expands moderately in April

The Euro zone's private sector kept expanding moderately in April, but failed to gather momentum. The Markit Composite PMI, a forward-looking reading tracking development in the Euro bloc's manufacturing and services sectors came in at 53.0 in the reported month, down from 53.1 seen previously, when it rebounded from February's 13-month low. The manufacturing PMI declined to 51.5 in April, compared with 51.6 in the preceding month, while the services sector gauge rose to 53.2, slightly ahead of 53.1 in March, but undershooting economists' expectations of 53.3. The Euro zone's economic growth continued to be weak as the bloc's GDP expanded 0.3% in the final three months of 2015 on a quarterly basis, the same pace as in the three months through September. For all of 2015, economic output of the 19 countries using the Euro was up by 1.6% year-on-year.

Business activity in Germany, the Euro zone's number one economy, decelerated more than expected in April. Markit's Composite PMI for Germany dropped to 53.8, down from 54.0 in March, which was the lowest level since September 2015. Economists, however, had expected acceleration to 54.2 in the reported month. Germany's manufacturing gauge climbed to 51.9, up from 50.7 in March, while the services PMI unexpectedly dropped to 54.6, down from 55.1.