Flash PMI indices for May from France and Germany were released at 8:15 am BST and 8:30 am BST, respectively. Data was expected to show a small improvement in the manufacturing sector as well as deterioration in the services sector.
Indeed, it was the case with French data with manufacturing index climbing in-line with expectations and services index dropping more than expected. However, things looked different in case of German data as manufacturing index there disappointed and dropped instead of improving while services gauge unexpectedly jumped. In both countries manufacturing sector remained below 50 points threshold, indicating a recession, while services sector remain above 50 points threshold, indicating an expansion.
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Manufacturing: 46.1 vs 46.0 expected (45.6 previously)
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Services: 52.8 vs 54.2 expected (54.6 previously)
Germany
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Manufacturing: 42.9 vs 45.0 expected (44.5 previously)
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Services: 57.8 vs 55.5 expected (56.0 previously)
EUR and European indices dropped in a knee-jerk move after the French release, with EURUSD dropping deeper below 1.08 mark. While equity indices managed to recover from those losses later on, they faced another wave of selling following German data. Meanwhile, EUR attempted to recover after German data and moved back towards the 1.08 mark.
Source: xStation5
