"The eurozone economy showed renewed signs of life at the start of the fourth quarter, enjoying its strongest expansion so far this year with the promise of more to come".
- Chris Williamson, IHS Markit
Rising prices as well as strengthening employment outlook pushed the single currency area's two main economic sectors – services and manufacturing – flash purchasing managers' index to a 10-month high, influenced by strong growth in Germany. According to the data released, the flash Eurozone PMI manufacturing index strengthened to 53.3 for October from 52.6 the previous month. The following number was the strongest reading for 30 months and above expectations of a 52.7 reading. Moreover, the services-sector data also outperformed forecasts with an advance to a nine-month high at 53.5 from 52.2, while the composite output index strengthened to a ten-month high. The release followed strong PMIs from Germany and mixed data from France where the composite PMI declined as the services gauge went down. Overall, the figures marked an improvement from the September data, when Germany had been hit by services sector weakness and a French manufacturing downturn continued.
In the meantime, market reaction was limited with the Euro only marginally stronger and still blocked below 1.0900 level.
© Dukascopy Bank SA