The Eurozone economy stopped recovering and stagnated in September, according to the latest economic activity indexes (called purchasing managers indexes - PMIs). The Eurozone composite PMI (combining manufacturing and services) fell back from 51.9 in August to 50.1 in September. As 50 is the threshold point between expansion and contraction, that means a stalled economy in September. GRAPH 1 Rising COVID-19 infection rates and ongoing social distancing measures curbed demand, notably for consumer-facing services. Manufacturing output growth accelerated in September to the fastest since February 2018 (rising from 51.7 to 53.7), but the service sector, having already almost stalled back in August, recorded the largest contraction of output since May (dropping from 51.5 to 47.6). France's composite PMI dropped into contraction territory - from 51.6 in August to 48.5 in September. Germany also fell back from 54.4 to 53.7 with the services sector contracting at 49.1 in September. In the UK, it was a similar story with the composite PMI dropping to 55.1 from a very fast 59.1 in August. Again it was services that fell back the most. While manufacturing continued to make a modest recovery in most European economies, the services sectors headed back down.