France/Germany flash PMIs (Jun) – 23/06 – One of the more notable trends we've seen in recent months has been an ongoing divergence between services sector activity and manufacturing activity. This trend has also started to manifest itself in China which is seeing its manufacturing sector start to struggle.
In France manufacturing activity remained steady at 45.7, while Germany slipped back to 43.2 from 44.5. Services continues to remain resilient but even here activity is cooling off a touch, with France slipping to 52.5 from 54.6, while Germany improved to 57.2 from 56.
In the UK the picture appears to be more upbeat, although even here manufacturing is struggling coming at 47.1 in May, while services also slowed to 55.2 from 55.9. Lower fuel costs may offer some support here; however, most services providers are struggling with higher costs, which by and large they are able to pass on.
