november saw business activity fall across the eurozone for the fifth consecutive month adding to fears of a recession the latest flash purchasing managers indexes showed the sp global eurozone composite pmi rose to 478 in november from 473 in october according to the preliminary reading this is above the forecast of 470 of economists polled by the wall street journal the pmi data for the fourth quarter so far put the eurozone economy on course for its steepest quarterly contraction since late2012 excluding pandemic lockdown months sp global said in the report manufacturing continued to lead the downturn with factory output dropping for a sixth consecutive month although the rate of decline eased the report said service sector output also fell down for the fourth consecutive month the november pmi data also bring some tentative good news chris williamson chief business economist at sp global market intelligence said the economist pointed out that the overall rate of decline has eased compared to october thanks to some easing in supply constraints and the warm weather easing fears regarding energy shortages price pressures are showing signs of cooling which should contain inflation however both manufacturing and services sectors are still under severe pressure the economist said in the report a recession therefore looks likely though the latest data provide hope that the scale of the downturn may not be as severe as previously feared mr williamson said