(CercleFinance.com) – Still encouraged by the trend on Wall Street the day before, European stock markets are progressing together (+ 0.7% in London, + 1.5% in Frankfurt, + 1.7% in Paris) despite the publication of contrasting composite PMI indices.
Announced this morning, the composite PMI index of global activity in the euro zone appears at 51.9 for the month of August, after 54.9 in July, but is nevertheless slightly higher than its flash estimate, which was 51.6.
‘If the virtual halt in growth recorded in August must be examined in the light of the specific context of July, the extent of the slowdown is however disappointing’, comments Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit.
In contrast, the UK composite PMI – calculated by the CIPS and IHS Markit – fell from 57 in July to 59.1 last month, reflecting the strongest expansion in UK private sector activity since August 2014.
This afternoon in the United States, the weekly entries for unemployment benefits, the July trade balance and productivity for the second quarter, then the PMI and ISM services indices for the month of August should appear.
On the value side, Siemens Healthineers loose nearly 4% in Frankfurt, after the launch of a capital increase of 2.73 billion euros by the medical technology group to partially finance its acquisition of Varian, announced in early August .
At the Paris Bourse, investors are welcoming the first half results of IT services giant Capgemini (+ 2%), but abandon those of telecoms operator Iliad (-2%).
– .
