August 21, 2014

Markit’s preliminary PMI Composite Output Index for Germany fell to 54.9 in August from a revised 55.7 in July (previously reported: 55.9). Despite the drop, the result overshot the 53.5 the market had expected. The composite PMI—the result of a survey of over 1,000 manufacturing and services businesses based in Germany—has hovered above the 50-threshold since April 2013.



According to Markit, the slight drop in August was due to weaker performance in the manufacturing component, which was the weakest since June 2013. Meanwhile, Markit pointed out that services, “remained the driving force behind the overall expansion, with the rate of activity growth remaining close to July’s 37-month high.” Markit concluded that August’s result, “provides further encouraging news for Germany’s private sector, with output and new orders rising sharply.”

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect the economy to expand 2.0% in 2014, which is up 0.1 percentage points from last month’s forecast. For 2015, panelists expect the economy to expand also 2.0%.