Euro area PMIs up – no visible effect of coronavirus so far

The Euro area composite PMI edged higher in February , as sentiment in the manufacturing and services sector improved. At least so far , there is little indication that the outbreak of the coronavirus had any significant negative impact on corporate sentiment in Europe. To be sure, the slowdown in Chinese growth will eventually become more visible i n the data and we still expect an easing of growth going forward. In fact, some of the more forward - looking parts of the manufacturing survey – new orders and n e w export orders index – e rased the gains seen in January .