Lacklustre performances from the eurozone’s three biggest economies resulted in stagnating growth in the second quarter of 2014, writes the Financial Times.
France registered zero growth, leading its government to announce it would fail to meet its deficit reduction target this year, while Italy went into recession for the third time since 2008.
The financial daily also notes German 10-year bond yields dipped below 1 per cent for the first time, which it says is due to anticipation that the European Central Bank (ECB) would —
follow the lead of the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England by introducing a programme of large-scale bond purchases to boost the region’s economy. Expectations of action by the ECB also pushed down the cost of borrowing across the eurozone. […] However, monetary policy makers are not expected to act until the end of this year at the earliest.
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