Eurozone: PMI figures, key data for next week - Danske Bank

In the Eurozone next week, a range of sentiment indicators for April are released, but markets will particularly keep a close eye on developments in PMI manufacturing according to analysts from Danske Bank. 

Key Quotes: 

“In the euro area we get the ZEW print on Tuesday 16 April. We see a small upside to the German expectations print based on the recent data points (from e.g. China) and expect the current situation to stabilise around its current level. In contrast to the weak data points from manufacturing PMIs, the German Ifo showed its first rebound in March since August 2018. The Ifo is typically a more reliable leading indicator of GDP than the PMIs, and hence paints a more optimistic picture of the German economy. On Wednesday 24 April the April Ifo data will then give us the first indications of where German Q2 GDP growth is heading.

“On Wednesday 17 April we get the final March euro area inflation data. The flash print disappointed with core inflation falling back to 0.8%. We do not expect any revision, but the final print will reveal how much of the slump in services prices was due to seasonal effects related to the timing of Easter, which is likely to reverse in April.

“On Thursday 18 April we get both the flash German and euro area PMI figures. In March the euro area manufacturing PMI dropped further into contractionary territory to a six-year low at 47.5. Germany contributed notably to this slowdown with a manufacturing print at just 44.1. However, we still see an increasing divergence in the PMIs, as service PMIs recovered further to 53.3 in March. In April, we expect to see a continuing stabilisation in the service print, although we might not have reached the trough in manufacturing PMI just yet.”