The headline seasonally adjusted IHS Markit France Services Business Activity Index dropped from 55.4 in August to 54.8 in September, which signalled the slowest expansion of service sector output since May. The average reading in the third quarter of 2018 (55.0) was slightly lower than in the prior quarter, but still well above the 50.0 no-change threshold.

Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted IHS Markit France Composite Output Index, a GDPweighted average of the Manufacturing Output Index and the Services Business Activity Index registered 54.0, down from 54.9 in August and the lowest reading since December 2016.