All Fall Down

摘要

Just a few weeks ago the main question about the euro-area economy was whether it would avoid recession. Now it is how deep will the downturn be. The region was already struggling before the financial crisis intensified in mid-September, gdp seemed set for a small drop in the third quarter, after shrinking at an annual-ised rate of 0.7% in the three months to June. A reading of the runes suggests there is worse to come. Alarmed by the speed of the economy's decline, the European Central Bank (ecb) cut its benchmark interest rate on November 6th by half a percentage point, to 3.25%, the second reduction in the space of a month.