-Chris Williamson, Markit's chief economist
While the ECB's quantitative easing has not been launched yet, it seems that the Euro zone's economy has started to gradually recover. Retail sales in the currency bloc rose for the fourth consecutive month in January and the quickest pace in more than nine years. The sustained increase in sales was supported by household spending power due to lower oil prices, which have freed up cash for Europeans to spend on other goods and services. Sales soared 3.7% in 12 months to January, topping economists' expectations for a 1.9% rise. Measured on a monthly basis, sales increased 1.1% in the reported month. The largest contributor to overall Euro zone retail sales appeared to be Germany, where sales surged 5.3% on year in January.
On top of that, Markit's composite PMI, which measures business activity in Euro zone manufacturing and services sectors, climbed to 53.7 in February, compared with 52.6 booked a month earlier. In Germany, services sector improved last month, with the corresponding gauge rising to 54.7 in February, up from 54.0 in the preceding month. Business activity in French services sector rebounded in February, as the final services PMI logged a growth to 53.4, compared with January's 49.4. However, the Euro zone's third biggest economy, Italy, saw its services sector decelerating its pace of growth in the reported month, with services PMI coming in at 50.
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