LONDON - Euro zone business activity picked up slightly last month but remained weak as a modest but broad-based upturn in the services industry offset a continued deep downturn in factory output, a survey showed.
By the end of September, the ECB will either cut its deposit rate or ease its forward guidance further by pledging to keep interest rates lower for longer, according to a majority of economists in a Reuters poll. [ECILT/EU] That was a touch higher than a preliminary reading of 52.1 but it remained close to the 50 mark separating growth from contraction.
“Nonetheless, we continue to see the ECB headed for another dose of monetary policy easing in September as it attempts to reinvigorate the region’s economy.” The robust German, French and Spanish readings helped a PMI covering the wider euro zone services industry bounce to 53.6 from May’s 52.9, a counterweight to a fifth month of contraction in manufacturing. [EUR/PMIM]
They will be printing money in the Autumn in the EU.
Completely unrelated, but that's a really interesting shot of Paris. An angle not often shown, with the towering modern part of the city behind.
Euro is shit