The German economy begins to recover

Data released by Markt today showed that the composite PMI that combines the industrial and service sectors, which together account for more than two-thirds of the German economy, fell to 56.0 points in the first half of April, compared to 57.3 points in March.

Germany's manufacturing PMI fell to 66.4 in April from 66.6 in March, and the service PMI fell to 50.1 in April from 51.5 in March. The data showed that companies hired new employees at a pace not seen since October 2018, as their backlog increased to the highest level in more than 10 years, and input prices rose to their highest level in 10 years.