{"id":663235,"date":"2026-10-23T16:42:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T16:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/663235\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T16:42:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T16:42:17","slug":"euro-zone-growth-slows-to-four-month-low-amid-rising-costs-and-french-strife-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/663235\/","title":{"rendered":"Euro zone growth slows to four-month low amid rising costs and French strife \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growth across the euro zone\u2019s private sector slowed to its weakest pace in \u200cfour months in October, hurt by an energy-driven rise<\/a> in costs and a renewed contraction in France amid political and financial instability, a survey showed.<\/p>\n

The S&P Global Flash Eurozone Composite PMI Output \u200bIndex fell to 51.9 in October from September\u2019s 53.1, its lowest reading since June and lower than all forecasts in a Reuters poll which had predicted a modest dip to 52.7.<\/p>\n

A PMI (purchasing managers index) reading above 50.0 indicates growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing a spring and summer where the euro zone economy defied expectations, the flash October PMIs pour a little bit of cold water on just \u200bhow much further sentiment could improve,\u201d said Rory Fennessy at Oxford Economics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe volatile situation in France weighed heavily on the euro zone picture, with government borrowing costs spiking further as the fiscal \u2060situation worsens.\u201d<\/p>\n

French business activity unexpectedly contracted this month, reflecting a sharp decline in demand for goods and services which businesses surveyed tied to \u200cheightened \u200cpolitical uncertainty \u200band economic pressures.<\/p>\n

\"\"Why is motor insurance so expensive in Ireland?<\/p>\n

Government borrowing costs in France have jumped in recent weeks on investor concerns about the country\u2019s ability to repair its finances, while waves of street protests have raised the political temperature ahead of a presidential election \u2060in the spring.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in Germany, Europe\u2019s largest economy, private sector growth \u200balso softened.<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s PMI showed resilience with firms having their strongest month for \u200bactivity since February.<\/p>\n

But British consumers reined in shopping last month as higher fuel prices ate into household budgets, official data showed earlier on Friday, and GfK \u200csaid consumer confidence suffered its sharpest month-on-month fall since early \u200bin the Covid-19 pandemic in October.<\/p>\n

Input costs in the currency union accelerated for the second consecutive month linked to higher energy, fuel and \u2060transport costs in part due to the Middle East war. Despite \u2060this, firms raised their selling prices \u200bat a slower pace than in September, suggesting some margin compression.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile manufacturers are continuing to feel the squeeze of higher energy prices, there is still little evidence of second-round effects, which will be reassuring for the ECB,\u201d said Harry Chambers at Capital Economics.<\/p>\n

The European Central Bank will hold its deposit rate at 2.5 per cent next week but raise it by 25 basis points in December as inflation runs nearly double its 2 per cent target, a Reuters poll found earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Business confidence in the euro zone fell to a five-month low, the survey showed, with optimism dropping most sharply in manufacturing.<\/p>\n

France, beset by financial pressures and political turbulence, stood out for its pessimism. Its PMI pointed to economic \u200ccontraction with business confidence hitting its \u2060lowest since 2012 outside the pandemic period.<\/p>\n

New orders in the euro zone \u2013 a key gauge of demand \u2013 grew at their slowest rate in the current four-month expansion sequence, with both manufacturing and services posting only modest gains. New export \u200corders rose for a third consecutive month, however, an encouraging sign after nearly 4-1\/2 years of continuous monthly declines.<\/p>\n

The preliminary services PMI fell to a two-month low while a manufacturing output \u200bindex \u2013 which feeds into the composite reading \u2013 dropped to a four-month low.<\/p>\n

Hiring in the single currency \u200barea came close to a standstill, the survey showed, with employment barely rising after slight gains in the prior two months. Services sector job creation eased to a five-month low and manufacturing payrolls edged down after two months of improvement. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Growth across the euro zone\u2019s private sector slowed to its weakest pace in \u200cfour months in October, hurt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,113,6285,61,60],"class_list":["post-663235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-horizontal","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}