ROME (Reuters) -The Italian manufacturing sector contracted only marginally in October and at a slower pace than the month before, a survey showed on Monday, offering a glimmer of hope for the country’s sluggish economy.
The HCOB Italian Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) stood at 49.9 last month versus 49.0 in September, almost returning to the 50 threshold that separates growth from contraction.
A Reuters survey of eight analysts had pointed to an October reading of 49.3.
“October’s PMI data suggest that Italy’s manufacturing sector may be approaching a turning point”, said Nils Muller, economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank AG.
August’s reading of 50.4 signalled the first month of expansion since March 2024, only for the index to immediately fall back into sub-50 territory in September.
The trends beneath the headline figure were mixed, with the sub-index for output rising to 50.6 from a previous 49.2, while the indicator for employment dropped below the 50 mark, to 49.8 from 50.5.
The sub-index for new orders stood at 49.7 from a previous 47.6, still signalling slight contraction.
The euro zone’s third-largest economy stagnated in the third quarter from the previous three months, data showed last week, after contracting by 0.1% between April and June.
The government in October marginally lowered its gross domestic product forecast for the whole of 2025 to 0.5% from an April projection of 0.6%.
(Reporting by Antonella Cinelli, editing by Gavin Jones and Toby Chopra)
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