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Italian business activity down in August
Italy’s service sector suffered concurrent declines in activity and new work during August for the first time this year amid reports of a challenging business environment. Confidence in the future also softened as firms signalled some concerns that high prices and elevated interest rates will hit demand, whilst there was a drop in employment for a second successive month. Input prices rose at an elevated and accelerated pace, although output charges rose only modestly. The headline index from the report, the HCOB Italy Services PMI® Business Activity Index slipped below the 50.0 no-change mark in August. Posting ... (full story)