Markit's flash eurozone PMI beats expectations in July

The PMI slipped to 52.9 from 53.1 in June, hitting an 18-month low but better than expectations for a reading of 52.5.

The services PMI came in at 52.7, down from 52.8 in June, also marking an 18-month low but ahead of expectations of 52.5.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing PMI nudged down to 51.9 in July from 52.8 the previous month. This marked a two-month low and was a touch below the expected reading of 52.0.

Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said: “The eurozone economy showed surprising resilience in the face of the UK’s vote to leave the EU and another terrorist attack in France. The overall rate of economic growth is largely unchanged, suggesting GDP is growing at a sluggish but reasonably steady annual rate of around 1.5%.

“It’s especially encouraging to see employment growth continuing to improve, with firms’ appetite to hire seemingly so far unaffected by the uncertainty caused by the Brexit vote, especially in Germany.”