The upturn in Germany's service sector continued into the new year, albeit with the rate of business activity growth easing to its lowest since last September, the latest HCOB PMI® survey results showed. Firms reported improved demand conditions and were much more optimistic about the outlook than the month before. Even so, January saw a renewed decline in employment across the services economy, with workforce numbers falling at the joint-quickest rate since the pandemic. Firms meanwhile faced a sharp increase in costs and raised output charges accordingly. The rates of input and output price inflation were the ... (full story)