2018.02.2123:35:00UTC+00Eurozone Business Growth Remains Firm in February

Eurozone business growth remained strong in February, with companies at their most optimistic in over five years, a private-sector survey showed.

The eurozone was one of the best-performing major economies in 2017, and its businesses started 2018 by ramping up activity at the quickest rate in well over a decade.

However, February's preliminary Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) indicated that the pace of growth set in January, the fastest in well over a decade, has lost a little momentum.

IHS Markit's composite flash PMI for the euro zone, seen as a good guide to economic health, dropped to 57.5 in February.

Nevertheless, this month's reading was still one of the most growth - or farthest above 50 - in more than 11 years.

According to IHS Markit, the eurozone was on track for its best quarterly growth since the second quarter of 2016, with the PMI pointing to first-quarter growth of 0.9 percent.

Companies shared that optimism - an index measuring expected output in a year's time climbed to 68.3 from 68.0, its highest since IHS Markit started collecting the data in July 2012.

Consumer confidence in the bloc dropped more than expected this month, but that was from a 17-year high set in January, official data recently showed.