German PMIs revive euro’s growth momentum

Germany is entering its toughest lockdown regime today, but European markets are enjoying a wave of optimism with EURUSD breaking 1.22 and the DAX jumping more than 1%. In both cases, this is a step beyond the established trading ranges for previous weeks.

The rise was driven by significantly stronger PMI estimates for Germany and, later, for the whole euro area. The recovery in the industrial sector is gaining momentum, as reflected by a rise in the relevant PMI to 58.6, the highest level since February 2018, vs 57.8 a month earlier and an expected decline to 56.4.

The services sector contracted but it was unable to drag down the German composite index to deeper levels. The eurozone composite index climbed to 49.8 in December, much better than 45.3 a month earlier.

Thus, business sentiment in the Euro-region was very optimistic at the start of the winter lockdown, which helped the single currency and the European indices to gain momentum.

The FxPro Analyst Team