Service sector business activity broadly stagnates in December

France's services economy stagnated during December, according to the final HCOB PMI® survey of the year, rounding off a flat fourth quarter (on average) for business activity across the sector. This was also the case for new orders, with demand for services seeing virtually no change since November. Meanwhile, a fairly benign cost inflation environment, as evidenced by a below-average rise in input prices, afforded service providers with some flexibility over their pricing decisions. Output charges were broadly unchanged once again in December. Looking ahead to 2026, surveyed companies continued to show limited ... (