German private sector grows, services expand at fastest rate in 3 years ...
BERLIN: Germany's private sector expanded for the 15th month running in July as services activity grew at the fastest rate in more than three years, a survey showed on Tuesday, suggesting Europe's largest economy is gaining momentum.
Markit's final composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), which tracks growth in the manufacturing and service sectors that make up more than two-thirds of the economy, climbed to 55.7 from 54.0 in June. That was slightly below the flash estimate of 55.9.
'Composite data showed a re-acceleration of activity growth, a further increase in order intakes and a ninth consecutive rise in employment, suggesting the German economy has regained some of the momentum it had lost at the end of the second quarter,' said Markit economist Oliver Kolodseike.
The German economy strode ahead in the first quarter with its strongest growth in three years but that was largely due to mild weather so it is generally seen slowing or even stagnating in the second quarter before accelerating again in the third.
Markit's PMI for the services sector climbed to 56.7 in July - its strongest level since June 2011 - from 54.6 in June as new work continued to flow in, albeit at a slower pace than in June, and firms recruited new staff.
Service providers became more optimistic about business prospects for the next 12 months thanks partly to their fuller order books, a favourable economic environment and being able to charge higher prices.
They ran down backlogs of work in a sign that they have spare capacity and hiked their prices slightly as they sought to pass higher input costs on to clients to maintain margins.
While recent backward-looking data on the industrial sector has been weak, with orders, output and exports falling, other data has contained positive signs for private consumption, which the government is relying on to drive growth, with retail sales rising, unemployment dropping and inflation slowing.
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