French Manufacturing Activity Shrinks for Fourth Month in August

French manufacturing activity contracted for a fourth month in August, signaling that the euro area’s second-largest economy is unlikely to return to growth after stagnating in the first half.

A Purchasing Managers Index for the manufacturing industry fell to 46.5 from 47.8 in July, London-based Markit Economics said today. That’s the lowest level in more than a year. Economists forecast no change, according to a Bloomberg News survey. A composite gauge of both manufacturing and services activity rose to 50, the mark that divides expansion from contraction, from 49.4.