Eurozone, manufacturing PMI falls further. Italy, France and Spain in free fall from Investing.com

Investing.com – The collapse of the euro zone’s manufacturing sector was still noticeable at the start of the fourth quarter, with a sharp and accelerating contraction in new orders, purchasing activity and backlogs contributing to another strong decline in manufacturing output. This was revealed by the usual report on the Hcob PMI index for the euro zone manufacturing sector prepared by S&P Global, which in October reached a three-month low of 43.1, down from 43.4 in September.

“This decline represents the sixteenth consecutive month in which the report’s main indicator recorded a value below the neutral no-change threshold of 50, indicating a sharp contraction in manufacturing conditions,” the experts stressed in a note.

Regarding our country, Italy’s manufacturing PMI registered its lowest value in three months in October, falling to 44.9, compared to 46.8 in September. Furthermore, the current sequence of declines has extended to seven consecutive months, with weak demand conditions continuing to weigh on the sector.

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Difficulties facing the eurozone countries

Among countries where Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data are available, the October survey highlighted a general weakness, and as has been the case so far since the second half of the year, despite a slow decline, Germany (40.8) was the country that reported the best performance. the worst. France (42.8), the second largest economy in the European Monetary Union, recorded its largest contraction in manufacturing conditions in nearly three and a half years. Faster declines were also reported in Italy (44.9), Spain (45.1), and Ireland (48.2), while Greece (50.2) was the only country to report an improvement, albeit only slight and remaining above the 50-point threshold that distinguishes contraction from contraction. . expansion.

“The trend of the Eurozone manufacturing sector over the past two years can be compared to a downhill race. Given that the headline PMI has barely moved over the past few months, including October, we might say we are close to reaching the finish line. The real question is when will we start going up. The stagnation of the new orders index, which has remained firmly in negative territory, and the similar trend of the purchasing quantity index, do not indicate an immediate change in trend. However, history tells us that the stability of these indicators is in many cases a condition Key to starting the recovery. We expect this to happen in the first half of next year. Eurozone countries appear to be hurting each other. With PMIs falling in France, Italy and Spain and Germany already showing a strong industrial recession, it is quite clear that the sector is heading towards contraction in All these countries during this quarter. From the Hamburg Commercial Bank.