By Daniel Shvartsman
Investing.com -- European purchasing manager index releases on Friday showed continued expansion even as most numbers missed expectations.
The Eurozone Composite PMI came in at 54.8, missing expectations of 54.9, the number from the flash PMI reading last week. It was also a drop from last month's reading of 55.8, but readings over 50 are a sign of economic expansion, and European stock market indices did not move much in response to the release.
That pattern - slight miss from expectations and drop from flash PMI readings and prior month's readings - also played out in the German composite PMI report, the French composite PMI report, and the Italian composite PMI report.
Services PMIs also followed this pattern, but generally had higher readings than the composite, a sign of the rebalancing or reversion in consumer spending from goods to services. Spain, for example, posted the sole beat among the major European countries in its services PMI, as tourism returns to the front of many Europeans' spending plans as the summer season approaches.
The EUR/USD rose slightly, up 0.14% to $1.076 as of 04:30 am ET (0830 GMT), and is poised to finish the week higher as risk assets in general outperform.