CdM | The Spanish service sector economy continued to expand in February, but once again did so at a slower pace, due to less rapid growth in demand and weaker market conditions.
This is according to the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the Spanish service sector, which stood at 51.9 points in the second month of the year, according to S&P Global and Hamburg Commercial Bank (HCOB). Although it remained above the no-change level of 50 points, and the current period of continuous growth extended to two and a half years, the index fell from 53.5 points in January and marked its lowest level since June 2025. The market consensus expected the February reading to be 52.7 points.
As reported by HCOB, companies reported that market conditions softened, especially compared to the end of last year, resulting in a slower increase in new orders. ‘In fact, with new orders from abroad declining for the third time in the last four months, growth was once again mainly driven by domestic demand,’ the German firm added. Some companies attributed the net increase in new orders to successful sales and marketing campaigns.
In turn, employment levels rose again in February, bringing the current period of expansion to almost three and a half years. Companies reported that they hired additional staff in line with the increase in new order volumes and growth expectations for the next twelve months.
However, the pace of employment growth was the slowest since September 2025, notes HCOB, which highlights the non-replacement of workers who left voluntarily due to weaker demand growth. In addition, capacity was ‘sufficiently high’ to “comfortably” catch up with overall workloads, as outstanding orders declined ‘slightly’ for the third consecutive month.
