FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Lending to euro zone companies and households continued to accelerate last month, supporting the arguments from some that the bloc’s economy has bottomed out and a “soft landing” was underway, European Central Bank data showed on Thursday.
Lending growth to businesses picked up to 1.2% in October from 1.1% in September and was at its best level since mid-2023. Growth in lending to households meanwhile rose to 0.8% from 0.7% a month earlier.
The M3 measure of money supply, sometimes an indicator of future economic growth, expanded by 3.4%, a level last topped in December 2022, and came in line with expectations in a Reuters poll.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Toby Chopra)
