Eurozone flash manufacturing PMI slips to 55.5 in May, 15-month lows

The Eurozone economic growth continued to witness a slowdown in the month of May, the latest manufacturing and services activity surveys from IHS/Markit research showed.

The Eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) hit fresh fifteen-month lows in May, arriving at 55.5 versus 56.2 seen in April while services PMI dropped to 16-month lows of 53.9 versus 54.7 last.

The IHS Markit Eurozone PMI fell from 55.1 in April to 54.1 in May, hitting fresh 18-month lows.

Comments from Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit:

“The May PMI brought yet another set of disappointing survey results, though once again a note of caution is required when interpreting the findings. While prior months have seen various factors such as extreme weather, strikes, illness and the timing of Easter dampen growth, May saw reports of business being adversely affected by an unusually high number of public holidays. Furthermore, despite the headline PMI dropping to an 18-month low, the survey remains at a level consistent with the Eurozone economy growing at a reasonably solid rate of just over 0.4% in the second quarter.”