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July
proved a fraught month for the currency union as Greece brushed
with bankruptcy and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the country's
survey signaled the steepest downturn in its 16-year history.
French factories also slipped back into contraction.
Any signs the rest of the bloc shrugged off that turbulence will
please European Central Bank policymakers and the Netherlands,
Spain and Italy all enjoyed healthy growth, with the latter
enjoying its strongest expansion for over four years.
"Policymakers will be reassured by the robust growth rates seen
in these countries and the resilience of the manufacturing
sector as a whole, especially as growth is likely to pick up
again now that Greece has jumped its latest hurdle in the
ongoing debt crisis," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at
survey compiler Markit.
Markit's final Eurozone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index
was 52.4, comfortably above the 50 level that separates growth
from contraction. That beat a preliminary estimate of 52.2 but
was just shy of June's 52.5.
An index measuring output that feeds into a composite PMI due on
Wednesday and seen as a good guide to growth held steady at
June's 53.6, surpassing the preliminary 53.4 reading.
New order growth eased last month - the subindex dipped to 52.2
from 52.7 - as factories increased their prices for a second
month, albeit at a weaker rate than in June.
(Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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