That was a decent positive surprise.....>

FRANCE DATA: That was a decent positive surprise to both services and

manufacturing French PMIs.

Highlights from the press release:

- "Service providers reported only a fractional decline in business activity and

their slowest in three months of contraction. Some panellists that recorded a

fall in activity cited ongoing disruption caused by the 'gilets jaunes'

protests."

- "Manufacturers saw production broadly stabilise in February. Growing order

books for some survey respondents counterbalanced the negative impact of the

'gilets jaunes' at others."

- "Private sector firms remained optimistic towards the business outlook. The

level of confidence was broadly in line with January, despite a slight fall in

sentiment among manufacturers."