French Business Activity Rises for First Time in Over a Year

The La Defense business district in Paris.

Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg

France’s private sector grew for the first time in more than a year thanks to strength in the services industry, defying an initial assessment that it stagnated.

S&P Global’s Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 50.4 in November from 47.7 the previous month — surpassing the 50 mark separating expansion from contraction for the first time since Paris hosted the Olympics in the summer of 2024. A preliminary reading had put that gauge at 49.9.