LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - The downturn in euro zone business activity accelerated last month as demand in the dominant services industry weakened further, a survey showed on Monday, suggesting there is a growing chance of a recession in the 20-country currency union.
The economy contracted 0.1% in the third quarter, official data has shown, and Monday's final Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for October indicated the bloc entered the final quarter of 2023 on the back foot.
Services activity in Germany, Europe's largest economy, slipped back into contraction in October amid persistent weakness in demand while in France it shrank again.
In another bright spot, investor morale in the euro zone rose more than expected at the start of November, with expectations for the future at their rosiest since early this year, Sentix's index showed on Monday.
Policymakers there, who have failed to get inflation to target, will likely take some cheer from easing price pressures shown in the PMI survey, as both the input and output prices indexes fell from their September readings.
Persons:
Adrian Prettejohn, Jonathan Cable, Hugh Lawson, Toby Chopra
Organizations:
PMI, P Global, Capital Economics, European Central Bank, Thomson
Locations:
September's, COVID, Germany, Europe's, France, Spain