Euro zone bank lending is stuck in low gear, ECB data shows

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Lending to euro zone companies and households grew at a modest pace in November, pointing to a lacklustre end of the year for the bloc's economy, European Central Bank data showed on Thursday.

Credit growth to businesses slowed to 1.0% in November from 1.2% in October. While the increase in loans to households was the biggest since August 2023, it was still paltry in historical terms at 0.9%, compared to 0.8% a month earlier.

On the upside, the more volatile M3 measure of money supply, sometimes an indicator of future economic growth, expanded by 3.8%, the briskest pace in two years, and exceeded all expectations in a Reuters poll.

(Reporting by Francesco Canepa; Editing by Toby Chopra)