Price discounting drove growth in all of the eurozone’s major economies in March, helping business activity increase at its fastest rate for nearly a year, a survey showed yesterday.

Eurozone consumer prices fell again in March, as expected, but the decline was the smallest this year, indicating the price of goods and services could start rising again soon.

British manufacturing output unexpectedly fell in January as computer and electronics production plunged.

A gauge of euro-area services and manufacturing signaled economic growth slowed in the final quarter of 2014, supporting calls for more stimulus by the European Central Bank.

The Bank of England left interest rates on hold today as the timing of a first hike which had once been expected this year recedes into 2015.

Inflation in the UK is expected to remain below the Bank of England’s 2% target when official figures for August are published tomorrow.

The UK’s trade gap unexpectedly widened in June to fuel concerns about the impact that the strong pound is having on the price of British goods abroad.

Eurozone manufacturing and services activity strengthened in a sign of confidence that fresh stimulus by the ECB will consolidate a fledgling economic recovery.

Eurozone interest rates are expected to be slashed again tomorrow as part of a package of radical measures to breathe new life into the moribund economy.

The biggest gain in US exports in nine months helped narrow the trade deficit in March, pointing to a revival of global demand that will help the world’s largest economy strengthen.

Russia has cranked up the pressure by ending discounts on its natural gas supplies, while the US and European Union offered quick-fix aid to the beleaguered government.

The unemployment rate across the eurozone remained at a near-record 12% in January and inflation was stable at a low level, according to official data released today.

Economic growth across the eurozone was stronger-than-expected at the end of 2013, according to official figures, raising hopes the recovery is gaining a foothold.

The Bank of England will hold interest rates at record lows once more tomorrow, amid speculation it will have to change the threshold for considering a hike in the cost of borrowing within months.

Eurozone inflation slowed in December, retreating farther from the European Central Bank’s ceiling as the 18-nation currency bloc struggled to strengthen its recovery from a record-long recession.

GLOBAL manufacturing ended 2013 on a strong note, as major exporters like the US, Japan, and Germany all saw demand pick up, although China’s performance remained modest, surveys showed yesterday.

Record weekly sales at John Lewis have raised hopes of a bumper end to the Christmas shopping period but there are fears that the UK's retail sector could be left with a profits hangover after heavy discounting.

Inflation fell to its lowest level in the UK for more than a year in October, plunging to 2.2%, official figures showed today.

Britain's dominant services sector grew at its fastest pace for 16 years in the third quarter of the year, fuelling hopes that the overall economy will have performed better than already-buoyant expectations.

Any hopes that the troubled eurozone economy was poised for a solid rebound from recession were under threat of being dashed today by latest figures showing the industrial sector sliding into reverse during July.

Eurozone factory output expanded at a faster pace than initially estimated in August, driven by a resurgence in Italy and Spain, as the 17-nation currency bloc’s recovery began to build momentum.

Britain exported a record £78.4bn of goods between April and June thanks to surging demand from countries outside Europe in the latest sign that the recovery is taking hold.

The Bank of England left interest rates unchanged today as it kept the City waiting on fresh measures to stimulate the recovery.

The Bank of England is expected to keep the City waiting on fresh measures to stimulate the economy when it holds its latest interest rate meeting tomorrow.

The Bank of England is expected to keep the City waiting on much-anticipated measures to lift the economy out of the doldrums when it holds its latest interest rate meeting on Thursday.

China’s leaders face new pressure to stimulate a slowing economy after growth decelerated for a second consecutive quarter, hurt by weak trade and efforts to cool a credit boom.

British housebuilders and mortgage lenders called for more clarity on how the government will wind down a support scheme for struggling housebuyers which has boosted developers’ profit forecasts amid fears of a new property bubble.

Bank of England policymakers will decide tomorrow whether to inject billions more pounds of stimulus into the UK economy or to hold off amid tentative signs of a recovery.

Italy is going to the polls today and tomorrow for a watershed parliamentary election that could shape the future of one of Europe’s biggest economies.

House building activity in Britain fell at its fastest rate for two years last month as construction firms battled persistent rain, figures revealed today.

British interest rates are unlikely to be cut below their historic lows, but Bank of England policymakers have left the door open for more cash to be pumped into the UK economy, a report revealed today.

The sun shone again over New York yesterday, as the city and much of the US east coast took the first steps back to normality after being battered by superstorm Sandy.

Oil prices rose today after a Superstorm Sandy caused havoc across the north-eastern US and threatened to inflict more damage inland.

Superstorm Sandy has revealed a skeleton which may date back to Colonial times, police in New Haven, Connecticut, said today.

US President Barack Obama will travel to New Jersey later, to assess the damage caused by superstorm Sandy.

Millions of people in the US are still without power in the wake of the most devastating storm in decades to hit the country’s most densely-populated region.

Sandy will end up causing about $20 billion (€15.4 billion) in property damage and $10 billion to $30 billion (€7.7 billion to €23.1 billion) more in lost business, according to IHS Global Insight, a forecasting firm.

Britain is facing a "feeble and fragile" recovery, experts warned today ahead of figures expected to confirm the economy has exited the longest double-dip recession since the 1950s.

Ireland had the fifth highest unemployment rate in the eurozone, as of the end of June, according to latest data from Eurostat, the EU’s statistical division.

Unemployment in the 17-country eurozone hit another record in May as it continued to be buffeted by its debt crisis.

The Bank of England is expected to hold back from unleashing extra emergency support for the British economy today amid mixed signals over the fate of the recovery.

The Bank of England is widely expected to pump billions of pounds into the UK economy this week despite signs that the UK’s financial health may be starting to improve.

Merck & Co, the second-largest US drugmaker, reported fourth-quarter profit that topped analyst estimates on higher sales of the Januvia diabetes drug. The company forecast 2012 earnings that matched estimates.

SPAIN’S parliament has approved the new conservative government’s first austerity measures, which aim to rein in the country’s swollen deficit with €8.9bn in spending cuts.