France’s services sector expands for the first time since February

The report from IHS Markit revealed on Friday that activity in France’s services sector began to recover in June, following three months of sharp contraction amid coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

According to the report, the headline seasonally adjusted IHS Markit France Services Business Activity Index came in at 50.7 in June, up from 31.1 in May. The reading to a slight recovery in output after the sharp reductions recorded over the previous three months.

Economists had forecast the indicator to climb to 50.3 in June.

The expansion came despite continued demand weakness, with new businesses declining further, albeit at a softer rate than in May. Meanwhile, sentiment towards the 12-month business outlook returned into positive territory, with panelists hopeful that the worst of the coronavirus crisis is over. Employment at French service providers continued to tumble June, but the decline was the softest for three months. On the price front, input prices rose for the first time in three months. At the same time, the output prices continued to drop, but the rate of decrease eased to the softest in the current four-month sequence of reduction.