- Chris Williamson, Markit's chief economist
The Euro area's factory activity posted a modest growth at the start of the fourth quarter, slightly outpacing September's levels, as the bloc's manufacturing sector held firm above contraction territory. According to the final figures provided by the Markit Economics, the manufacturing PMI across the Euro zone rose to 52.3 in October, from 52.0 in the preceding month. Meanwhile, the markets had expected the reading to remain unchanged. The report revealed that the manufacturing activity accelerated in Italy, Austria and the Netherlands and grew in all nations covered except Greece. However, the overall situation appeared to be relatively downbeat for the manufacturing sector across the Euroland, as the ECB's massive stimulus programme had little effect on sector's recovery, while the factory gate prices continued to contract, spurring more concerns about the efficiency of the ECB policies. Concerning four largest economies in the Euro zone, manufacturing sectors there posted quite mixed readings for October. In Germany, the manufacturing PMI slipped to 52.1 from 52.3 in September, compared with an initial reading of 51.6. October's final PMI for manufacturing sector in France remained unchanged at 50.6, slightly worse than the flash reading of 50.7. At the same time, the Italian manufacturing PMI advanced to 54.1 points in the given month, up from 52.7 in September. At last, manufacturing in Span edged down to 51.3 in October, slipping from last month's 51.7 points.
© Dukascopy Bank SA