Eurozone private sector growth slows in January - PMI
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Wednesday 04 Feb 2026
(Sharecast News) - The Eurozone's economy continued to expand in January, a closely-watched survey showed on Wednesday, but the pace of growth slowed as demand faltered.
The final HCOB Eurozone composite PMI output index was 51.3, still in growth territory but down on December's 51.5. Consensus had been for no change.
A reading above the neutral 50.0 benchmark indicates growth while one below it suggests contraction.
Within that, the manufacturing PMI output index was 50.5, up from 48.9. But the services PMI business activity index, which was also released on Wednesday, softened from 52.4 to 51.6, a four-month low and below forecasts for 51.9.
HCOB said recent PMI surveys pointed to a "sustained loss of momentum" in the private sector, with the rate of growth below the historical average.
Respondents to the services PMI noted that new orders had risen only marginally, while employment stagnated. However, they remained more optimistic about the year ahead.
Among individual countries, the composite PMI output index was 52.1 in Germany, the bloc's biggest economy, and 52.9 in Spain, a seven-month high. It remained in contraction in France, at 49.1, although that was better than the flash reading of 48.6.
Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank, called the growth in the Eurozone's services sector "decent, but the situation is still not comfortable.
"Companies hardly hired any new staff in January. The fact that new business barely grew also shows that the recovery in this sector is still fragile."
He added: "The European Central Bank is not currently particularly concerned about inflation, as the target of 2% appears to have been achieved.
"However, it is still worth keeping a close eye on services inflation, as it remains quite sticky, and if energy prices rise again - as they are currently due to the cold weather - the calm could quickly come to an end."
The composite is a weighted average of the manufacturing output index and services business activity index. Surveys are sent by S&P Global to around 5,000 manufacturing and service companies.
Data for the services PMI were collected between 12 and 27 January.
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