France: Further acceleration – Deutsche Bank

Analysts at Deutsche Bank note that in France, the latest composite PMI increased strongly to a new cyclical high of 57.6 in the flash March reading (exp 55.6; Feb 55.9) suggesting strong economic momentum.

Key Quotes

“The composite index is up over 6 points since November – equivalent to a fourfold acceleration in growth from 0.6% annualized to close to 2.5% annualised. This acceleration has been down to the services index (up by 7 points since October), while the manufacturing PMIs have stabilised in the past 3 months after increasing the latter part of 2016.”

“Looking at the less volatile quarterly figures, for Q1 2017 the French composite PMI points to growth of around 0.5% qoq (2% annualised). This is a similar level to that signaled by the INSEE survey, although the latter retreated this month – with the overall business confidence index down from 104.1 to 103.7 as the industry and construction confidence indicators retreated from their February peaks.”