Largest Collapse in Eurozone Business Activity Ever

March 25, 2020

•

7:55 am

•

4 comments

•

Economics

Markit reports The COVID-19 outbreak leads to Largest Collapse in Business Activity Ever Recorded.

Key Findings

Flash Eurozone PMI Composite Output Index at 31.4 (51.6 in February). Record low (since July 1998).
Flash Eurozone Services PMI Activity Index at 28.4 (52.6 in February). Record low (since July 1998).
Flash Eurozone Manufacturing PMI Output Index(4) at 39.5 (48.7 in February). 131-month low.
Flash Eurozone Manufacturing PMI (3) at 44.8 (49.2 in February). 92-month low.

The eurozone economy suffered an unprecedented collapse in business activity in March as the coronavirus outbreak intensified, according to provisional PMI® survey data. At 31.4 in March, the ‘flash’ IHS Markit Eurozone Composite PMI collapsed from 51.6 in February to register the largest monthly fall in business activity since comparable data were first collected in July 1998. The prior low was seen in February 2009, when the index hit 36.2.

The services sector was especially hard hit, notably within consumer-facing industries such as travel, tourism and restaurants. The survey’s service sector business activity index slumped just over 24 points from 52.6 in February to reach 28.4, surpassing the survey’s prior low of 39.2 (recorded in February 2009) by a wide margin.

Employment is already falling at a rate not seen since July 2009 as despair about the outlook broadens.

Mike “Mish” Shedlock

Subscribe to MishTalk Email Alerts.

Subscribers get an email alert of each post as they happen. Read the ones you like and you can unsubscribe at any time.

This post originated on MishTalk.Com

Thanks for Tuning In!

Mish

4 Comments

Newest

Oldest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

RonJ

4 years ago

Denninger posted this yesterday, from a story:

The new coronavirus may already have infected far more people in the UK than scientists had previously estimated — perhaps as much as half the population — according to modelling by researchers at the University of Oxford.

If the results are confirmed, they imply that fewer than one in a thousand of those infected with Covid-19 become ill enough to need hospital treatment, said Sunetra Gupta, professor of theoretical epidemiology, who led the study. The vast majority develop very mild symptoms or none at all.

“We need immediately to begin large-scale serological surveys — antibody testing — to assess what stage of the epidemic we are in now,” she said.

If the modeling is correct, a big if at this point, the UK is already closing in on herd immunity, thus closer to an economic recovery.

Maximus_Minimus

4 years ago

Every country is in a lockdown mode. Tourism, a main source of economic activity (Italy, France, Spain) is dead. On the bright side, third world tourism is also down.

FromBrussels

4 years ago

Reply to Maximus_Minimus

You know something Maxmin, I am enjoying this , everything is so peacefully quiet these days, hardly any traffic on the road, no endless contrails in the air, seems like our smug, taking everything for granted , consumption addicted society has landed with its feet on the ground, a belly landing probably…. I do wonder though how ‘Europe’, or the ECB rather is going to cope with this unexpected inconvenience, …..Within this context, I do fear for the trillions worth of conservative savings accounts that must be within the ECB s scope , I am sure they must be itchy to have a go at it , especially with longfaced Lagardere at the helm, who, not so long ago, stated that savings accounts are a viable option to solve macro financial issues….The future looks bright !

Maximus_Minimus

4 years ago

Reply to FromBrussels

As you have pointed out, this is not a singular calamity: several are converging.

The financial debt out the wazoo, which is worsening.
The overpopulation disaster, with some humanoids multiplying like virus.
The hyper consuming, coddled, confused, first world demographic.
the resulting destruction of the environment.
And finally, the viral pandemic.
In other words, a perfect clusterf**k.

Largest Collapse in Eurozone Business Activity Ever

Share this:

Recommended Articles

Stay Informed

Subscribe to MishTalk