Covid-19 recession clouds gather across Europe

France, the rest of the eurozone, and the UK will join the Irish economy in slumping into recession this year, while the US is already shedding millions of jobs amid the Covid-19 storm, economists have warned.

The eurozone and the UK will face contractions of 2% in 2020, before "a gradual rebound" of potentially more than 3% next year, according to S&P Global Ratings.