Eurozone manufacturing growth at 32 month high
A revived manufacturing sector, or a dead cat bounce?
Markit's Eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) came in at 54 in January, up from 52.7 in December. Economists had forecast a jump to just 53.9.
Any number above 50 implies expansion, so this headline figure suggests the sector is growing more rapidly.
Berenberg's Rob Wood says that the rise in the employment component – for the first time in nearly two years – is important for "periphery economies weighed down by extremely high unemployment"."
"Stronger demand should feed through to declines in unemployment this year, perhaps helping domestic demand a little. Though improvements are likely to be slow with unemployment still very high and debt in some countries a burden", says Wood.
Of the currency bloc's large economies only one is seeing its manufacturing sector contract – France with a manufacturing PMI of just 49.3.
Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, says that the data indicates manufacturing output across the area "is growing at a quarterly rate in excess of one per cent, led by Germany, where the rate of increase is perhaps as strong as three per cent."