Economy in Europe Contracts More Than Expected

[Valin]

NY Times:

JACK EWING

February 14, 2013

 

FRANKFURT — European economies shrank in the fourth quarter at their fastest rate since the depth of the financial crisis in 2009, new data showed Thursday, with both strong and weak countries falling short of expectations and raising anxieties of a longer, deeper recession.

 

Germany and France are now caught up in a slump that was already well underway in other big euro zone economies like Spain and Italy.

 

Along with news Thursday that the Japanese economy contracted for a third-consecutive quarter, the European figures are a reminder of how hard it has become for many of the world’s most economically developed countries to overcome their debt problems and return to growth. Even the United States, which had been seeming to rebound, surprised economists late last month by reporting contraction for the fourth quarter.

 

(Snip)

 

H/T Hot Air

 

 

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