After showing a positive start to the third quarter, the German service sector saw a setback in August as business activity fell slightly from the month before, the latest HCOB PMI® survey showed. The result was seen alongside a renewed fall in intakes of new work as well as a stalling of hiring activity. Business expectations were nevertheless little-changed, with firms still slightly more optimistic about future growth prospects than the historical average. As for prices, latest data showed an uptick in the rates of both input cost and output charge inflation, which had reached their lowest since early 2021 in ... (full story)