Euro zone business activity has contracted sharply this month as renewed restriction measures forced many firms in the bloc’s dominant service industry to close temporarily.
The bloc’s economy is on track for its first double-dip recession in nearly a decade and Monday’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) backed up that finding.
IHS Markit’s flash composite PMI, seen as a good guide to economic health, fell to 45.1 in November from October’s 50.0 – the exact level separating growth from contraction.
With demand drying up despite price cuts and backlogs of work being run down, firms reduced headcount for a ninth month.
The services employment index fell to 48.1 from 48.5.
However, manufacturing has fared better as many factories have remained open and its flash PMI held well above the breakeven mark at 53.6 in November, although below October’s 54.8.
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