The French private sector economy contracted midway through the third quarter, marking the first decline since COVID-related disruptions in the opening months of 2021. The renewed downturn, albeit only marginal, was driven principally by the manufacturing sector, although services activity growth continued to weaken. The major drag on output was demand, with the latest survey data signalling a broad-based drop in new business intakes that was the sharpest since November 2020. Employment growth subsequently softened, undermined also by a further deterioration in business confidence. Overall, French companies were at ... (full story)