Economic Buzz: Eurozone Private Sector Growth Accelerates In November

German services sector growth slowed to a three-month low in November, a survey showed on Tuesday, as a political impasse following Chancellor Angela Merkel's failure to form a new three-way coalition clouded the outlook for business.

Economists had expected the score to drop marginally to 55.0.

The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the sector grew to 57.4 in November against October's 53.9.

The result was better than a preliminary reading of 60.2 and lifted the index further away from the 50-point threshold dividing expansions in activity from contractions.

"Uncertainty about the economic outlook, linked commonly to Brexit worries, continued to permeate the business mood in November", Williamson added. "The survey data are so far consistent with the economy growing at a quarterly rate of 0.45 per cent in the closing months of 2017".

Growth in Britain's powerhouse services sector was pegged back last month as firms hiked prices at the fastest pace for almost a decade in the face of soaring costs.

Employment rose only marginally in November, with the rate of job creation unchanged from October's seven-month low.

Duncan Brock, director of customer relationships at the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS), said: "Businesses could no longer fight against the tide of higher prices for food, fuel and salaries as input cost inflation remained close to its strongest for six years".

This marks 16 consecutive months above the 50 no-change value, however, service providers' optimism for the year ahead remained much weaker than the long-run survey average.