According to Reuters London on January 24, a survey showed that Eurozone businesses are off to a difficult start to 2024 due to continued decline in demand and rising pressure due to Red Sea tensions, with business activity contracting again in January.
The preliminary Eurozone Composite PMI, compiled by S&P Global, increased from 47 in December6 rose to 47 of the month9, slightly lower than the Reuters poll expected of 480, but this is the eighth consecutive month that the index has been below 50.
Christoph Weil of Commerzbank, said: "The data confirm our view that the eurozone economic weakness will last longer than most economists and the ECB expected. ”
According to a recent poll conducted by Reuters, the eurozone's economic growth rate is expected to be 01%。
As the eurozone's leading economies, manufacturing PMIs improved in Germany and France, but in the services sector.
Growth in the UK's services sector picked up again this month, further showing signs of a modest economic recovery, even as beleaguered factories are currently reeling from the inflationary shock of Red Sea tensions.
The lead time index in the eurozone's factory PMI fell sharply to fall below 50 for the first time in a year as Yemen's Houthi attacks disrupted shipping in the Red Sea.
Given these disruptions, the EU faces the risk of soaring prices and slowing economic growth, although the economic impact is not yet being felt.
According to the report, there are signs that inflation is gradually picking up, and both input and output** indices have risen. The output** index is from 538 to 542, the highest since May last year.
This could disappoint ECB policymakers as they rush to get inflation back down to its 2% target.
According to the Spanish newspaper El País on January 26, although inflation has fallen to 29%, close to the ECB's 2% target, but cautious wait-and-see sentiment remains. Even Christmas, a synonym for shopping and spending, has failed to shake the sluggish sales.
At first, the decline in the service sector was the result of stay-at-home measures, but now the situation is exactly the opposite - the growth of the tertiary sector has come at the expense of ** of **. Especially in the field of food and fashion, and oddly enough, there is a ** trend in the sales of the most representative everyday basic products in each country.
In France, farmers are destroying wine stocks in the face of an unprecedented drop in demand, the report said. According to a report by Kering, one of the industry's leading companies, Paris's large luxury conglomerates are also experiencing a slowdown in sales of high-end clothing and accessories. In Italy, the car and mobile phone markets are also shrinking.
According to the report, the situation in Spain is not much better. The National Bureau of Statistics reported on January 22 that business sales had fallen for eight consecutive months. Olive oil, which is the foundation of the Mediterranean diet, has doubled since 2021 and last year consumption fell by 30 percent, replaced by sunflower oil. (Compiled by Yang Xuelei, Liu Lifei).