Eurozone boost makes Britain odd one out

(BRUSSELS) - Industrial orders and business activity rose in the eurozone, new data showed on Friday, with economic strength returning across much of western Europe even as Britain's recession dragged on.

Eurozone industrial orders rose 2.0 percent in August from July but were still 23.1 percent below the August 2008 level, the Eurostat data agency said.

The biggest monthly rises in the European Union as a whole came in the Czech Republic (+3.2 percent), France (+3.0 percent) and Slovakia (+11.8 percent).

But there were also declines in Britain (-0.3 percent), Ireland (-14.6 percent), Italy (-6.4 percent) and Poland (-10.6 percent).

James Knightley, an analyst at Dutch bank ING, warned that with eurozone economies growing and the US economy widely expected to exit its recession, "the UK may be the only major economy to have contracted in the third quarter."

The data came as a closely-watched survey showed eurozone private sector business activity rising in October at its fastest rate since December 2007.

The eurozone purchasing managers' index (PMI) compiled by financial research firm Markit rose to 53.0 points from 51.1 points in September.

Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said the results "indicate that the eurozone economy has entered the fourth quarter on a strong note, with growth accelerating in both manufacturing and services."

A key index in Europe's biggest economy, Germany, also showed business confidence there rising in October to its highest level for more than a year.

The Ifo survey index gained 0.6 points from September to 91.9, the highest level since September 2008, when the indicator stood at 92.7 points.

"The third quarter was a good quarter for the German economy. Probably even an excellent quarter," ING senior economist Carsten Brzeski commented Friday.

There was also encouraging news for the French economy, where new data showed household consumption went up 2.3 percent in September from August.

French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said the rise was "significant" and "encouraging" because it showed higher consumption across the board.

The upbeat results from continental Europe contrasted with Britain, where experts gave gloomy assessments after official data showed Britain had failed to climb out of its deepest recession since World War II in the third quarter.

Gross domestic product unexpectedly contracted by 0.4 percent in the third quarter, continuing a recession that began in the second quarter of 2008.

France and Germany emerged from recession in the second quarter of 2009.

"There are many millions of people who will be deeply concerned to see that Britain is still in recession six months after France and Germany came out of recession," said George Osborne from Britain's opposition Conservative Party.

"It destroys the myth that Britain was better prepared" for the crisis.

The disappointing result for Britain also dragged down the pound on currency markets. It dropped to 1.6459 dollars from a level of 1.6619 dollars reached in New York late on Thursday and the euro jumped to 0.9130 pounds from 0.9041.

"Sterling took a hit on surprisingly weak GDP figures which means that the UK is not following France and Germany out of recession," said Arifa Sheikh-Usmani, trader at sports and financial spread betting company Spreadex.

Industrial new orders up by 2.0 per cent in euro area [Eurostat]