Flash PMI indices for April from France and Germany were released this morning at 8:15 am BST and 8:30 am BST, respectively. Reports were expected to show an improvement in both sectors - manufacturing and services - compared to a month ago.

French report turned out to be mixed - manufacturing index unexpectedly slumped while services index improved more than expected. A point to note is that services index climbed above 50 pts threshold, signalling that the sector was in expansion. It seems to have outweighed the miss in manufacturing data, with EUR jumping on the report.

When it comes to German print, we saw a similar theme - manufacturing index missed expectations while services index beat expectations by a huge margin.

France, flash PMIs for April

  • Manufacturing: 44.9 vs 46.9 expected (46.2 previously)
  • Services: 50.5 vs 49.0 expected (48.3 previously)

Germany, flash PMIs for April

  • Manufacturing: 42.2 vs 42.9 expected (41.9 previously)
  • Services: 53.3 vs 50.5 expected (50.1 previously)

EURUSD rallied following French PMI report, gaining around 0.2% in the 15 minutes following the release. Release of German PMIs another more fuel to the move, with EURUSD spiking to the highest level since April 12, 2024.

Source: xStation5