By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- The Eurozone economy picked up further in March as a strong service sector compensated for ongoing weakness in manufacturing.
S&P Global's flash estimate of its composite purchasing managers index for the single currency zone rose to 54.1 from 52.0 in February, clearly above the 50 threshold that indicates growth and defying analysts' expectations for a modest slowdown.
The two pillars of the PMI had diverging fortunes, however. While services grew strongly, manufacturing stagnated, continuing to work off a historical backlog of orders that was a legacy of the pandemic. New orders continued to contract, pointing to further weakness ahead.
The Manufacturing PMI fell to 47.1 from 48.5 as a result. The Services PMI, by contrast, rose to a nine-month high of 55.6, with clear pickups seen in both Germany and France, the region's two biggest economies.