Germany showed strong improvement, while France struggled with ongoing political troubles that hurt business confidence. “The composite PMI for manufacturing and the service sector in the euro area rose slightly again in September. Job numbers stayed flat in September, ending six months of new hiring as companies reacted to the lack of new business coming in. Factories kept cutting workers, while service companies hired people at the slowest pace in seven months. Manufacturing companies saw their costs go down for the first time in three months.