Eurozone manufacturing sector at standstill in October

The eurozone's manufacturing sector tread water last month, numbers on Monday showed, in a "delicate sprout of economic recovery".

The Hamburg Commercial Bank said the manufacturing purchasing managers' index for October landed at exactly the 50-point neutral mark, picking up from 49.8 in September. The October reading, a two-month high, landed in line with the flash reading.

"In the eurozone's manufacturing sector, we can at best speak of a very delicate sprout of economic recovery," HCOB analyst Cyrus de la Rubia commented.

"But there is no real momentum."

Economies in the south of Europe fared better, with Spain among those registering improvements in the manufacturing sector. Germany and France were among those that struggled.

Survey publisher S&P Global said: "Eurozone manufacturers registered lower employment levels during October, extending the current sequence of job losses to just shy of two-and-a-half years. The rate of decrease quickened slightly and was the sharpest since June. Nevertheless, backlogs of work were reduced, indicating absent capacity pressures. The rate of depletion was modest and the softest in three months.

"Looking ahead, eurozone manufacturers were optimistic that output levels would be higher in 12 months' time. However, expectations nudged slightly lower on the month and were weak by historical standards."

The PMI survey features a panel of 3,000 firms. Responses were collected in the second half of the month.