Eurozone business activity growth slows in December: survey

FRANKFURT

Eurozone business activity growth slowed in December, but still rounded out 2025 with a full calender year of increases for the first time since the Covid pandemic, a key survery said Tuesday.

The HCOB Flash Eurozone purchasing managers' index (PMI) published by S&P Global - an important gauge of the overall health of the economy - registered a figure of 51.9 this month, down from 52.8 in November.

Any reading above 50 indicates growth, while a figure below 50 shows contraction.

"Economic growth slowed at the end of the year due to a slight contraction in the manufacturing sector and weaker momentum in the service sector," said Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank.

He said the weaker performance was due primarily to an intensfying downturn for industry in the bloc's biggest economy Germany, but there were signs of a cautious recovery in fellow heavyweight France.

"We expect the service sector to continue to play a stabilising role for the economy as a whole in the coming year. However, a real upturn will only succeed if the manufacturing sector regains its footing," de la Rubia said.

Cost inflation in the service sector reached a nine-month high in December, reinforcing expectations that the European Central Bank will leave rates unchanged at a meeting on Thursday.