Services (Germany):
Lively demand

The favourable business climate in the service sector in Germany (excluding trade, banking, leasing, insurance and government services) remained unchanged in February. Although the current business situation was assessed a little less positively for the fifth time in succession, optimism with regard to the six-month outlook improved slightly. Sales of the comparable previous-year period were exceeded more often than in January, and also for the coming months the enterprises expect a further clear increase in demand. Personnel levels will continued to expand, but scope for further price increases will narrow somewhat.