London — Eurozone business growth moved at a solid clip in August, driven by the best manufacturing performance in 6.5 years despite a strong euro, easily offsetting a mild slowdown in services growth, a key private sector survey showed on Wednesday. Taken together with a mild pick-up in price pressures, the data is likely to support expectations that the European Central Bank (ECB) will proceed later this year with making plans to scale back its multibillion-euro monthly asset purchases. The Flash Eurozone Composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI), generally considered a good indicator of overall economic growth, edged up slightly to 55.8 in August from 55.7, beating the median Reuters Poll estimate of 55.5. The momentum was underpinned by strong manufacturing growth in both of the eurozone’s biggest economies, Germany and France, where manufacturing PMIs surged above even the most optimistic forecasts. Overall, the latest data suggest 0.5% economic growth in the 19-member single ...
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