Markit’s latest survey shows how Paris attacks have impacted France’s service sector.
The company said a rapid fall-off in trade was behind its index falling from 52.7 in October to 51.3 in November.
“We think the key reason for the slowing in services growth is due to the attacks,” Chris Williamson, Markit’s chief economist said.
Markit said 60% of survey responses from services sector companies were received after the 13 November attacks.
The services index remains above 50, meaning that it is continuing to grow, but at a slower pace.
The “flash” manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) rose to a 19-month high, and Chris Williamson said the rest of the survey data suggested “a more encouraging picture of France continuing to lift itself out of its gloom”.
The survey comes after the boss of the industrial conglomerate Siemens warned that the Paris terrorist attacks and political instability in Europe were making companies more reluctant to invest.
Joe Kaeser told the Financial Times: “The biggest economic damage from these attacks is on confidence and confidence is a crucial element in this phase. It is indispensable to help countries exit the crisis.”
Yet overall, European businesses reported the fastest rates of growth in business activity and employment for four and a half years in November, according to Markit.
Its “flash” PMI for the eurozone rose to 54.4 from 53.9 in November – the survey’s fastest rate of expansion since May 2011.
Germany, which saw growth in manufacturing and services accelerate to a three-month high, helped drive the overall index higher.
Chris Williamson said the data put the 19-nation euro area on track for growth of 0.4 to 0.5% in the final quarter of the year.
European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi recently indicated he was disappointed with the current rate of growth and suggested policymakers could take fresh action to boost the economy.
The ECB has an inflation target of 2%, but prices in the eurozone have stayed low, with CPI at 0.1% in October.
Eurozone’s economic growth slowed to 0.3% in Q3 of 2015, latest figures have shown.
The rate was lower than expected, and compared with a pace of 0.4% recorded in the previous quarter.
The pace of expansion in Germany, the eurozone’s largest economy, slowed, but France returned to growth.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is widely expected in December to expand its stimulus program, which aims to lift inflation and support growth.
Germany’s economy grew by 0.3% in Q3, down from 0.4% in the previous quarter.
The economy had shown “continued moderate growth”, helped by increased domestic consumption, Germany’s Federal Statistics Office said.
However, foreign trade “had a downward effect on growth, because the increase in imports was markedly larger than that of exports”, it added.
The French economy also grew by 0.3% in the same period, but this marked a pick-up from zero growth previously.
The French statistics agency INSEE said a rise in imports had also weighed on the country’s growth rate.
France’s economy saw an increase in household spending, and that production of goods and services picked up, the INSEE added.
“The [GDP] figure… confirms that we have left in 2015 the period of very weak growth that France had experienced since 2011,” said French Finance Minister Michel Sapin.
Among the other major eurozone economies, the growth rate in Italy slowed to 0.2%, which was worse than expected, while the Spanish economy grew by 0.8%.
Portugal’s economy recorded zero growth despite having expanded by 0.5% in the second quarter. Greece’s economy contracted by 0.5%, while Finland’s shrank by 0.6%.
The Eurostat figures showed the eurozone’s economy grew by 1.6% in Q3 compared with a year earlier.
Expectations are growing that the ECB will expand its monetary stimulus program at its meeting next month.
In October, the ECB said it would “re-examine” the policy, and on November 12, ECB president Mario Draghi said the bank was ready to extend its policy if needed.
In January 2015, the ECB started a quantitative easing (QE) stimulus program worth at least €1.1 trillion in an attempt to avoid deflation and boost growth in the eurozone.
The bank has committed to buy €60 billion of bonds a month until September 2016.
The most recent figures showed inflation in the eurozone returned to zero in October from September’s -0.1%.
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