CdM | In January, companies in the eurozone services sector expanded their commercial activities for the eighth consecutive month. However, the rate of growth was moderate and the least intense since September 2025, according to the PMI index.
‘The growth trajectory can be described as acceptable, but the situation is still not comfortable. Companies barely hired any staff in January. The fact that new orders barely grew also shows that the recovery in this sector is still fragile,’ according to Hamburg Commercial Bank.
Demand for services in the eurozone increased in January, but the pace of expansion was well below the average seen in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Thus, the eurozone services sector business activity PMI index stood above the no-change level of 50 for the eighth consecutive month in January, but fell from 52.4 in December to 51.6.
The increase in new orders was the weakest since August 2025. As a result, with activity growth outpacing sales growth, service companies completed their work at a faster rate than they received it.
Outstanding orders fell in January at the sharpest rate in eight months. Eurozone service companies increased their workforces in January, although the rate of increase was only slight overall and the weakest since September 2025.
Nevertheless, this increase extended the current period of uninterrupted employment growth to exactly five years. Sustained recruitment occurred at the same time as business confidence increased. ‘Overall, and on a positive note, service companies remain as optimistic as they were in mid-2024 about the increase in business activity over the next twelve months,’ they say.
