French Private Sector Contracts For Fourth Month

(RTTNews) - France's private sector contracted for the fourth straight month in December as both manufacturers and services providers registered declines in output, flash survey results from S&P Global showed on Monday.

The HCOB composite output index posted 46.7 in December, up from 45.9 in November. A reading below 50 indicates contraction. The index signaled an extension of the downturn seen in the private sector since September. Although the pace of decline slowed from November, the score suggested the second-sharpest fall over the last eleven months.

The hardest drag on activity came from the manufacturing sector, which posted the most rapid decrease in over four-and-a-half years. Service providers also registered a weaker drop of activity compared to November.

The manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index dropped unexpectedly to 41.9 in December from 43.1 in the previous month. The expected score was 43.2.

Meanwhile, the services PMI rose to 48.2 in December, while it was expected to remain unchanged at 46.9.

"The industrial sector remains the Achilles heel of the French economy, and even the relatively better-performing services sector fails to provide any growth impetus," Hamburg Commercial Bank economist Tariq Kamal Chaudhry said.

Political instability will not disappear anytime soon, Chaudhry added. The economist said service companies indicated that political uncertainty is a hindrance to business.