French growth slows even as manufacturing touches six-year high

Zurich - France’s private-sector economy slowed in July as the best manufacturing numbers in more than six years couldn’t compensate for a weakening in services.

A composite Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 55.7 from 56.6 in June, IHS Markit Economics said on Monday. That’s worse than the 56.4 predicted by economists in a Bloomberg survey.

While service growth retreated more than forecast, manufacturing unexpectedly increased, and all readings were well above the 50 mark the separates expansion from contraction.

“The French private sector continued to expand at a robust pace in July, despite losing a little momentum from the previous quarter,” said Annabel Fiddes, an economist at IHS Markit. It “marks a solid start to the second half of the year.”

German and eurozone PMI data are expected to be little changed when they are published at 9:30 and 10:00, respectively.

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