Eurozone business growth slows

Eurozone business increased at the slowest rate this year in August and retail sales plummeted in July as escalating tension between Russia and Ukraine subdued spending and investment, surveys showed yesterday.

Signs of slower growth, coupled with firms cutting prices at an even faster rate but still failing to drum up sales, will add to pressure on the European Central Bank ahead of its monetary policy meeting today.

“The euro area is still just about expanding but the direction is downwards and the risk is we get more of the same as we move through the next few months as the geopolitical factors weigh heavily,” said Ken Wattret at BNP Paribas.