The eurozone private sector dipped into contraction in April, according to provisional PMI® survey data, thereby ending a 15-month sequence of growth. The overall reduction in business activity was centred on service providers, while the manufacturing sector reported higher output, albeit in part linked to the building of safety stocks. Inflationary pressures continued to strengthen, with both input costs and output prices rising at the sharpest rates in more than three years amid the impacts of the war in the Middle East. The war also caused severe supply-chain disruption, with manufacturers seeing suppliers' ... (full story)