The Euro-Zone April manufacturing PMI rose to 36.7 from 33.9 in March, while the services PMI rose to 43.1 from 40.9. Both readings were much stronger than expected and this was the second consecutive rise, which together with positive indications from other surveys confirms that confidence has bottomed out. Readings remain below the 50 point no change market, thus pointing to ongoing contractions in activity in both sectors, which is consistent with expectations of negative growth in Q1 and Q2. However, data suggests that growth will start to stabilize in the second half of the year.
Meanwhile, German March manufacturing PMI jumped to 35.0 from 32.4 and the services PMI rose to 43.5 from 42.3. This is the second consecutive improvement and French April manufacturing PMI rose to 40.0 from 36.5 in the previous month, whiles the services PMI jumped to 46.2 from 43.6. Readings were much better than expected and tie in with the first improvement in French business confidence reported earlier.