FRANKFURT: Europe, which held the world's economic storms at bay for the last year, has finally succumbed. Spain, Ireland and Denmark are either in, or on the brink, of a recession. Italy is stagnating. France is weakening fast. And Germany, the sturdy locomotive of European growth, is suddenly faltering - dashing most residual hopes that Europe could escape the upheaval in the United States. On Tuesday, an influential poll of German investors by the Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim found that confidence has plummeted to its lowest level since the survey was started in 1991. Shares in Spain swooned after that country's housing crisis claimed its first big casualty: a property developer that filed for protection from creditors. And in Britain, the inflation rate surged - as it has elsewhere in Europe - to 3.8 percent because of soaring prices for food and fuel. "We've seen a sea change in Europe," said Thomas Mayer, the chief European economist at Deutsche Bank in London. "All the bad news around the world has finally come to us."
FRANKFURT: Europe, which held the world's economic storms at bay for the last year, has finally succumbed.
Spain, Ireland and Denmark are either in, or on the brink, of a recession. Italy is stagnating. France is weakening fast. And Germany, the sturdy locomotive of European growth, is suddenly faltering - dashing most residual hopes that Europe could escape the upheaval in the United States.
On Tuesday, an influential poll of German investors by the Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim found that confidence has plummeted to its lowest level since the survey was started in 1991.
Shares in Spain swooned after that country's housing crisis claimed its first big casualty: a property developer that filed for protection from creditors. And in Britain, the inflation rate surged - as it has elsewhere in Europe - to 3.8 percent because of soaring prices for food and fuel.
"We've seen a sea change in Europe," said Thomas Mayer, the chief European economist at Deutsche Bank in London. "All the bad news around the world has finally come to us."
Shares in Spain swooned
Unless it's a typo for "swooped", which would still be an abuse of language. When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind
Dicho sea de paso, el significado de 'Maracatu, and here too! "Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark." Cheyenne
See also: Some short notes on Indian cooking. by Metatone on March 19th, 2006 When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
