The German Economy Is Looking Great

The composite output index hit a 32-month high of 56.1.

Any reading above 50 signals expansion.

The manufacturing sub-index slipped to a 2-month low of 54.7. Economists were looking for 56.3.

The services sub-index jumped to a 3-month high of 55.4, whihc was better than the 53.4 expected.

From Markit's Oliver Kolodseike:

"The economic upturn in Germany's private sector gathered further momentum in February, with business activity rising at the quickest pace in 32 months. Survey data for 2014 dovetails nicely with the expectations of government statisticians, who recently raised their growth forecast for the German economy to 1.8%.

"Encouragingly, the service sector moved up a gear, with output and new orders rising at sharper rates than seen in previous months, adding signs to a broad- based and healthy economic upturn. While manufacturing lost some of its recent momentum, production growth in the sector remained sharp and inflows of new work continued to increase at a robust pace, which was partly attributed to relatively mild weather in February.

"The recovery in the eurozone's largest economy is looking more and more sustainable, underpinned by the strongest rate of job creation in just over two years."