Details of the February 2016 US Markit services PMI final data report 3 March 2016
- Flash 49.8. Jan 53.2
- Employment 53.7 vs 54.2 flash and 54.3 in Jan
- New orders 52.1 vs 52.8 in Jan
- Composite 50.0 vs 50.1 flash and 53.2 in Jan
- Employment 53.4 vs 53.7 flash. Jan 53.2
- New orders 52.2 vs 53.0 in Jan
Confirming the contraction and sinking the dollar. USDJPY drops to 113.55 while the euro makes a new high at 1.0919
"Business activity stagnated in February as malaise spread from the manufacturing sector to services. The Markit PMIs are signalling a stagnation of the economy in February, suggesting growth has deteriorated further since late last year.
Prices pressures are waning again in line with faltering demand. Average prices charged for goods and services are dropping once again, down for the first time in five months, as firms compete to win new business
Worse may be to come, as inflows of new business have slowed sharply, causing backlogs of work across both sectors to fall at the fastest rate seen since the 2008-9 financial crisis. Such weak demand suggests that business activity and price discounting look set to continue.
However, perhaps the brightest warning light is the downturn in business optimism to the joint-lowest recorded by the survey, suggesting firms are bracing themselves for trouble ahead.
The only positive note in the PMI report is the sustained robust rate of job creation in the services sector, though it seems inevitable that firms will take a more cautious approach to hiring if demand continues to wane in coming months." Said Markit's Chris Williamson
US services PMI
Once again, Europe is coming out on top in latest round of PMI's