2020.04.2308:15:00UTC+00Eurozone Private Sector Logs Steepest Fall On Record

The euro area private sector suffered its steepest falls in business activity and employment due to the measures taken to contain the spread of coronavirus, flash survey data from IHS Markit showed Thursday.

The flash IHS Markit composite output index plummeted to an all-time low of 13.5 in April, down from a prior record low of 29.7 in March. A score below 50 indicates contraction.

The reading was expected to fall moderately to 25.9 in April.

This was the largest monthly collapse in output recorded in over two decades of survey data collection. The COVID-19 pandemic was widely blamed for the deterioration in April.

The services Purchasing Managers' Index plunged to a record low 11.7 from 26.4 in March. This was well below the forecast of 23.5.

Similarly, the manufacturing PMI came in at 33.6, down from 44.5 in the previous month. The expected reading was 38.0.

"Our model which compares the PMI with GDP suggests that the April survey is indicative of the eurozone economy contracting at a quarterly rate of approximately 7.5%," Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit said.

By region, the unprecedented scale of the collapse was broad-based, with composite flash PMI output indices hitting all-time lows of 17.1 and 11.2 respectively in Germany and France.