Latest data released by Markit - 23 November 2020
- Prior 46.5
- Manufacturing PMI 49.1 vs 49.9 expected
- Prior 51.3
- Composite PMI 39.9 vs 39.5 expected
- Prior 47.5
Both the services and manufacturing components miss on estimates as the French economy suffers a sharp downturn in business activity amid a return to lockdown.
Markit highlights that all three components above come in at a six-month low as private sector activity fell at its quickest pace since May. Adding that:
"With the renewed tightening of restrictions in France at the end of October, a sharp decline in private sector activity during November was almost inevitable. However, it is somewhat positive to see that the latest contraction in activity was substantially slower than during the previous lockdown. These results suggest that some French businesses have been able to adapt their operations to the new conditions and are subsequently less susceptible to sharp downturns in activity when tighter restrictions are imposed.
"Moreover, despite demand conditions deteriorating sharply, the pace of job cutting across the French private sector eased to the softest since before the escalation of the crisis in March. This suggests that private sector firms have become leaner compared to the start of the crisis, and hopefully employee numbers will be more resilient to the current downside economic risks."
The good news is at least that the jobs component is reflecting some optimism and that eases some of the pain from the downside misses on the headline components.
