Eurozone Manufacturing Contraction Slows

Revelation 6:3-4 NCV When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" Then another horse came out, a red one. Its rider was given power to take away peace (prosperity, rest) from the earth and to make people kill each other (butcher, slaughter, to maim violently, in streets), and he was given a big sword (assassins sword, terrorist, loud, mighty, sore afraid).

The latest Markit Purchasing Manager’s Index shows that the manufacturing market contraction that has been plaguing the eurozone is beginning to ease.

The latest level shows 47.9, an increase of 1.8 from December. Still below 50, it shows there is contraction in the manufacturing market, just at a much lesser pace than the previous month.

Economists believe that this is an indication the eurozone could start to see growth before the end of 2013. Germany, the eurozone’s largest economy, led the way for all eurozone countries jumping from 46.0 to 49.8 in a month putting them on the verge of growth for the first time in almost a year.

The news was not all good. France, the second largest economy in the eurozone, fell to a new low of 42.9.

“Confidence [in France] seems to have evaporated in the face of an increasingly uncertain economic environment, leading manufacturers to make sharper cuts to employment, purchasing and input stocks,” Markit senior economist Jack Kennedy told the BBC.

Unemployment in the region also showed no improvement staying at the record high of 11.7%.

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