The business activity in the Eurozone in January has stabilized

In January the business activity in the private sector of the Eurozone maintains solid pace of growth since the end of 2016. These are the final results of agency Markit's research.
PMI index, which measures general business activity, remained in December at level of 54.4 points, holding for a second consecutive month in five and a half years peak against the forecast for a slight decrease to 54.3 points. Thus, the business activity remains in the expansion for 43 consecutive months.
PMI index, which measures only the activity in the services sector also stabilized in January at the December level of 53.7 points. Earlier this week Markit agency reported good growth in industrial PMI index in January to 69 month high of 55.2 points compared to 54.9 points a month earlier.
Latest PMI data meet the GDP growth of the euro area by 0.4% q/q, suggesting that the region's economy is on a solid foundation in early 2017, analysts say. At the same time, faster growth of new business and the upturn in business confidence for the last 12 months to the highest level since the eurozone debt crisis is a good sign that a relatively good pace of growth will persist in the coming months.