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Eurozone November manufacturing activity highest in 17 years

Manufacturing activity in the eurozone grew to its highest reading in November in 17 years, as evidenced by robust accelerated expansions in production and new orders, coupled with series-record growth in new exports business, and the steepest rise in employment since the survey began, final data from IHS Markit showed.

The eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers' index, or PMI, was 60.1 in November, slightly up from the flash estimate and higher than the October final reading of 58.5. According to IHS Markit, the November PMI is the best reading apart from April 2000's record high in the 20-year history of the survey. The month saw improvements in overall operating conditions strengthen across the consumer, intermediate and investment goods sectors.

Rates of expansion in production and new orders rose to the highest since February 2011 and April 2000, respectively, with manufacturers reporting strong inflows of new work received from both domestic and international clients. This resulted in the steepest accumulation of backlogs of work since surveys on outstanding business started in November 2002.

The level of new export business rose at the fastest pace since the survey started in June 1997 with rates of expansion improving across all of the nations covered, reaching near-series record highs in six nations.

Staffing levels were elevated in all of the countries surveyed, with almost all seeing a faster pace of increase, except Italy.

"November's surveys produced a clean sheet of improved PMI readings for all countries, resulting in the best performance for eurozone manufacturing since the height of the dot-com boom over 17 years ago," said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit.

Germany's manufacturing PMI stood at 62.5 in November, up from 60.6 in October and the second-highest reading since the survey started in April 1996. The stronger pace of growth placed greater pressure on capacity, with backlogs accumulating at the second-fastest rate ever recorded and input delivery delays among the worst seen in the survey's 21-year history.

Strong client demand propelled France's PMI index to a seven-year high in November. France's manufacturing PMI posted 57.7 during the month, up from 56.1 in October. Companies were encouraged to expand their purchasing activity and take on new workers at one of the sharpest rates in the series history.

Growth in output, new orders and exports in Italy all reached multiyear highs, which placed pressure on capacity as reflected by a survey-record increase in backlogs of work. The country's headline manufacturing PMI rose to 58.3 from 57.8 in October, reaching the highest level since February 2011.