{"id":429297,"date":"2026-04-07T15:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T08:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/2026\/04\/france-march-final-services-pmi-48-8-vs-48-3-prelim\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T15:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T08:00:12","slug":"france-march-final-services-pmi-48-8-vs-48-3-prelim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/france-march-final-services-pmi-48-8-vs-48-3-prelim-429297\/","title":{"rendered":"France March final services PMI 48.8 vs 48.3 prelim"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Prior 49.6<\/li>\n<li>Composite PMI 48.8 vs 48.3 prelim<\/li>\n<li>Prior 49.9<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">The readings might be revised higher in the final report but they are still much softer than in February. A sharper decline in new business weighed on business activity with the war in the<br \/>\nMiddle East also reportedly hit order books. As such, it is once again demand-side weakness that is plaguing French services activity as we wrap up Q1.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">Besides that, the<br \/>\nmost prominent impact of the US-Iran conflict was on prices as input<br \/>\ncost inflation rose to a 20-month high. Ouch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">HCOB notes that:<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">&#8220;The resolution of the budget deadlock earlier this<br \/>\nyear has failed to provide France&#8217;s economy with a<br \/>\nspringboard into higher growth during the first quarter,<br \/>\naccording to the latest PMI numbers. That said, the<br \/>\nlocal elections in March provided yet another political<br \/>\nevent for businesses to contend with, so we may need<br \/>\nto wait until April data to make concrete conclusions.<br \/>\nThe outbreak of war in the Middle East is also being felt<br \/>\nin Europe, with survey respondents reporting a hit to<br \/>\ndemand due to the conflict.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">&#8220;However, prices were where the Middle East war<br \/>\nshowed up most starkly in the March PMI figures. Input<br \/>\nprice inflation accelerated sharply, hitting its highest<br \/>\nlevel since July 2024 as the oil price shock drove fuel<br \/>\ncosts up across France.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-justify\">&#8220;Much uncertainty lies ahead, a condition which French<br \/>\nbusinesses have become rather accustomed to in<br \/>\nrecent years given the domestic political environment.<br \/>\nUncertainty is bad for growth, and the inflation impulse<br \/>\nstemming from the war raises the risk of stagflation in<br \/>\nFrance.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>                            This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prior 49.6 Composite PMI 48.8 vs 48.3 prelim Prior 49.9 The readings might be revised higher in the final report but they are still much softer than in February. A sharper decline&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-429297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429297","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=429297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}