Mubasher: Companies in the Eurozone are passing on more of their costs to consumers as pricing power are increasing, a survey showed on Monday as reported by Reuters.
The zone’s economy is on track for a strong finish to 2017, the news agency noted, as the IHS Markit’s final composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the euro zone fell to 56 points in October from September’s 56.7 points.
The monthly score has exceeded an earlier estimate of 55.9 and comfortably above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction.
According to Reuters, earlier figures showed growth remained solid in Germany and France, but slowed in Italy, suggesting a recent flurry in economic activity there may be petering out.
Meanwhile, growth in Spain’s key services sector fell to its lowest in nine months as the political crisis in Catalonia weighed heavily on business sentiment.
However, an investor sentiment index beat analyst expectations and climbed to its highest level since July 2007 in November, research group Sentix said on Monday.
More expensive energy and intermediate goods pushed up euro zone prices at factory gates more than expected in September, data from the European Union’s statistics office showed on Monday.
New orders growth accelerated despite firms increasing their prices at the joint fastest rate since the middle of 2011.
The output price index rose to a seven-month high of 53.1 from 52.7, while the employment index jumped to 54.2 from 53.7, as firms hired at the second fastest rate in nearly 10 years.
