london nov 23 reuters  euro zone business growth unexpectedly accelerated this month as consumers shrugged off another wave of coronavirus infections and new restrictions while price pressures soared again a survey showed on tuesday ihs markits flash composite purchasing managers index a good indicator of overall economic health jumped to 558 in november from 542 in october the survey exceeded all forecasts in a reuters poll which had predicted a drop to 532 and was comfortably above the 50mark which separates growth from contraction a stronger expansion of business activity in november defied economists expectations of a slowdown but is unlikely to prevent the euro zone from suffering slower growth in the fourth quarter especially as rising virus cases look set to cause renewed disruptions to the economy in december said chris williamson chief business economist at ihs markit supply bottlenecks caused by the pandemic alongside a shortage of heavy goods vehicle drivers have made it a sellers market for raw materials and the composite input prices index surged to 759 from 732 by far the highest since the survey began in mid1998 still a pmi for the blocs dominant services industry rose to 566 from 546 well above all forecasts in a reuters poll that had predicted a fall to 535 but optimism waned as renewed lockdowns are likely to have a bigger impact on services the business expectations index sunk to 666 from 690 its lowest reading since february manufacturing activity remained robust and the factory pmi rose to 586 from 583 an index measuring output which feeds into the composite pmi increased to 538 from 533 demand remained strong and factories were able to pass on some of the record increase in raw material costs to customers the output prices index jumped to 743 from 726 the highest since the ihs markit began collecting the data 19 years ago that casts some doubt on the european central banks claim the rise in inflation is transitory euro zone inflation expectations are at risk of continuing to overshoot the banks 2 target next year according to a reuters poll earlier this month with supply delays remaining close to record highs and energy prices spiking higher upward pressure on prices has meanwhile intensified far above anything previously witnessed by the surveys williamson said