Germany’s private sector economy ended 2023 in contraction territory, according to December’s HCOB ‘flash’ PMI® survey compiled by S&P Global, with the country’s manufacturers and services firms each recording slightly faster declines in activity. Weak underlying demand was signalled by sustained downturns in both inflows of new business and backlogs of work, albeit with the survey signalling a softening of the respective rates of contraction. Inflationary pressures meanwhile increased at the end of the fourth quarter, with firms reporting the steepest rise in output prices for seven months amid a more marked ... (full story)