The seasonally adjusted HCOB Flash Eurozone Composite PMI Output Index was unchanged at 51.5 in January, thereby signalling a further modest monthly increase in output across the euro area’s private sector.
Although business activity continued to rise, the latest expansion was the joint-slowest since last September. Output has now risen in each of the past 13 months.
Manufacturing production returned to growth in January, following a first fall in output for ten months at the end of 2025. The pace of expansion was only fractional, however. Meanwhile, growth was sustained in the service sector, but here the rise was the weakest in four months.
Limiting the overall pace of expansion in January was a renewed reduction in business activity in France, where output ticked down for the first time in three months. The weakness in France contrasted with ongoing growth in Germany and across the rest of the eurozone. In fact, the solid rise in activity in Germany was the sharpest since last October.
Eurozone companies continued to increase output in response to higher new orders, which rose for the sixth month running in January. That said, the latest expansion in new business was only marginal and the slowest since September 2025.
Growth of total new business continued to be restricted by a fall in new export orders (which include intra-eurozone trade). New business from abroad decreased modestly, albeit to a lesser extent than in December.