Latest data released by Markit/BME - 21 May 2020
Much like the French reading, the bounce in services and composite readings are notable but again they are just a reflection of the shift in balance of businesses reporting that conditions are better this month than they were last month - not the magnitude of improvement.
The manufacturing sector only showed mild improvements with Markit highlighting that new businesses and export sales are continuing to stay more subdued on that front.
Markit notes that:
"Any hopes of a swift pick-up in activity across the German economy following the easing of lockdown restrictions have been somewhat dashed by May's flash PMI survey, which shows activity down again across both the manufacturing and service sectors.
"The rate of decline in activity has eased considerably since the peak of virus containment measures in April, but we are still a long way off business as usual and the path to recovery remains unclear.
"With demand expected to remain below 'normal' levels for quite some time, firms are continuing to cut workforce numbers at a worrying rate in order to better align capacity with current conditions. The scale of job losses is a key risk to the longer-term outlook."
The full report can be found here.
