Glimpse on industry as 2Q24 GDP data keep flowing

As the 2Q24 GDP data keeps flowing (we will summarize the complete set of 2Q24 GDP growth in Fridays Daily), we take a look at the industry performance in the second quarter. While the retail sector mostly improved in the region, supporting the economic recovery, industrial output, on the contrary, was weaker in most of the CEE countries in the second quarter, compared to the beginning of the year. In other words, industrial output growth either slowed down, or declines were more extensive compared to the first quarter of 2024. Croatia and Hungary experienced the most extensive contraction of the industrial output growth, which translated into weaker than expected GDP growth in 2Q24 in Hungary. In the case of industry, there are only two exceptions in the region; Poland and Slovenia. In these two countries, the average industrial output growth accelerated in the second quarter. Moving ahead, the market sentiment did not improve in a more visible manner. Actually, the manufacturing PMI indices were in the contraction zone in July (below the threshold of 50), casting some doubts about the industrys performance in the second half of the year. Tuesdays decline of ZEW sentiment for Germany to 19.2 from 41.8 in the previous month adds to the growing worries about the economic recovery in the second half of 2024.