By Nina Koeppen and Gabriele Parussini
French business sentiment bounced back in November, but remained
close to its lowest level in three years, the national statistics
bureau said Friday, suggesting that growth in the euro zone's
second-largest economy remains weak.
The index for the business environment among industrialists was
88, Insee said, up from 85 in October. Analysts surveyed by Dow
Jones Newswires had predicted a 86 reading for the indicator.
"According to company managers in November, the outlook in
industry remains badly oriented, despite a slight amelioration of
the indicator," Insee said.
That comes after a closely watched survey from data provider
Markit showed Thursday that business activity in Germany and the
broader euro zone continued to shrink in November, indicating the
region's economic downturn is steepening even as other big
economies, including the U.S. and China, show signs of
resurgence.
The weakness in Germany's economy was also highlighted by
Friday's release of gross domestic product data. Although the euro
zone's largest economy outperformed many of its peers in the third
quarter--German GDP expanded 0.2% from the previous quarter--growth
remained heavily dependent on exports.
But slack corporate investment and weakening foreign demand for
German goods are expected to push down German GDP towards the end
of the year. Investment in machinery and equipment dropped for the
fourth straight quarter, declining 2.0% from the second quarter,
data from the federal statistics office showed Friday.
Compounding the problems for Germany, several blue-chip firms
have already announced large-scale cost cuts, including engineering
conglomerate Siemens AG (SI), car giant Daimler AG (DAI.XE),
airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE)and Deutsche Bank AG
(DB).
Write to Nina Koeppen at nina.koeppen@wsj.com and Gabriele
Parussini at gabriele.parussini@dowjones.com