{"id":428830,"date":"2026-03-24T16:26:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T09:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/2026\/03\/eurozone-march-flash-services-pmi-50-1-vs-51-1-expected\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T16:26:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T09:26:34","slug":"eurozone-march-flash-services-pmi-50-1-vs-51-1-expected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/eurozone-march-flash-services-pmi-50-1-vs-51-1-expected-428830\/","title":{"rendered":"Eurozone March flash services PMI 50.1 vs 51.1 expected"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Prior 51.9<\/li>\n<li>Manufacturing PMI 51.4 vs 49.4 expected<\/li>\n<li>Prior 50.8<\/li>\n<li>Composite PMI 50.5 vs 51.0 expected<\/li>\n<li>Prior 51.9<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">The manufacturing sector is the only bright spot, with Germany leading the recovery in that regard. That being said, manufacturing output was softer than what the main index indicates with it being a two-month low. Meanwhile, the drag in the services sector pretty much brings overall business activity close to stalling with activity there being a ten-month low.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">Looking at other details, employment conditions continue to struggle with it falling for a third month running. Staffing levels decreased in Germany and France, while the<br \/>\nrest of the euro area posted the weakest rise in employment<br \/>\nsince November 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">Besides that, prices were a key focus amid higher energy prices and we&#8217;re already seeing clear signs of the US-Iran conflict leaving a mark. Of note, input prices increased at<br \/>\nthe fastest pace since February 2023 with steeper inflation registered across both the manufacturing and services sectors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">HCOB notes that:<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">\u201cThe flash Eurozone PMI is ringing stagflation alarm<br \/>\nbells as the war in the Middle East drives prices sharply<br \/>\nhigher while stifling growth. Firms\u2019 costs are rising at<br \/>\nthe fastest rate for over three years amid the surge in<br \/>\nenergy prices and choking of supply chains resulting<br \/>\nfrom the war. Supplier delays have jumped to their<br \/>\nhighest since mid-2022, largely linked to shipping<br \/>\nissues.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">\u201cOutput growth has meanwhile slowed to nearstagnation thanks to a slump in business confidence<br \/>\nand deterioration of new orders. The drop in future<br \/>\noutput expectations was the largest recorded since<br \/>\nRussia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">\u201cThe survey data are indicative of eurozone GDP<br \/>\ngrowth slowing to a quarterly rate of just below 0.1% in<br \/>\nMarch with the forward-looking indicators pointing to<br \/>\na heightened risk of a downturn the coming months.<br \/>\nThe survey\u2019s price gauge is meanwhile indicative of<br \/>\nconsumer price inflation accelerating close to 3%, with<br \/>\ncost pressure likely to add still further to selling price<br \/>\ninflation in the coming months.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">\u201cThe outlook depends on the duration of the war and<br \/>\nany potential lasting impact on energy and supply<br \/>\nchains, but the flash PMI data underscore how the<br \/>\nEuropean Central Bank is no longer in a \u201cgood place\u201d<br \/>\nwith respect to growth and inflation, and will have to<br \/>\ntread a cautious path with respect to policy in the face<br \/>\nof a clear and rising risk of stagflation in the coming<br \/>\nmonths.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>                            This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prior 51.9 Manufacturing PMI 51.4 vs 49.4 expected Prior 50.8 Composite PMI 50.5 vs 51.0 expected Prior 51.9 The manufacturing sector is the only bright spot, with Germany leading the recovery in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-428830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428830\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}