Economic Buzz: Eurozone business activity up marginally as new orders near stabilisation

The first half of 2025 ended with the Eurozone private sector eking out growth of output, according to provisional PMI survey data for June. Sustained increases in manufacturing production coincided with a stabilisation of services business activity.

New orders decreased again, but at the slowest pace in over a year, while business confidence improved to the strongest since the start of 2025. In line with the picture for output, firms increased their staffing levels marginally. Meanwhile, the pace of input cost inflation continued to ease, but output prices rose at a faster pace than in May.

The seasonally adjusted HCOB Flash Eurozone Composite PMI Output Index was unchanged at 50.2 in June, posting above the 50.0 no-change mark for the sixth consecutive month but continuing the trend seen through much of the year-to-date of only marginal expansions in business activity.

Overall growth was again centered on the manufacturing sector, where production increased for the fourth successive month. That said, the rate of expansion in June was slight, having eased to a three-month low. Meanwhile, services business activity was unchanged at the end of the first half of the year, following a first fall in activity in six months during May.

New orders neared stabilization in June. Although continuing to fall marginally, the latest reduction in new business was the slowest in the current 13-month sequence of decline.

In line with the picture for business activity, employment in the Eurozone was up marginally again in June, with the pace of job creation unchanged from May. The pace of input cost inflation eased for the fourth consecutive month in June and was the weakest since last November.

Manufacturers in the Eurozone continued to scale back their purchasing activity in June, but the pace of decline was modest and among the weakest in the past three years. With input buying falling, stocks of purchases decreased at a marked and accelerated pace.

Stocks of finished goods, meanwhile, declined to the smallest extent since September 2024. Suppliers? delivery times lengthened at the end of the first half of the year, ending a four-month sequence of shortening lead times.

June saw an improvement in business confidence, with sentiment up to the highest since January.

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