Strong household spending, rising state expenditure and higher company investments have consolidated Germany’s role as the eurozone growth engine in the second quarter, although accelerating imports meant growth came in just below expectations.

There’s no respite for sterling.

Confidence among UK services firms slid to a three-year low last month as the risk of Britain exiting the European Union weighed on executives’ minds.

Oil fell as much as 4% yesterday after China devalued its currency, raising questions about its demand for crude, while a new projection showed non-Opec producers were more resilient than expected to keeping output high amid low prices.

The eurozone returned to inflation in May with a higher- than-expected increase in consumer prices after five months of falls and stagnation, due to rising food costs and the waning impact of cheap energy.

The eurozone economy may have moved one step away from another recession.

There is still no clarity on whether the ECB will be able to buy tracker mortgages from Irish banks following its latest monthly meeting.

ECB president Mario Draghi will announce an asset-backed securities purchasing programme at Thursday’s monthly meeting instead of unveiling plans for fully fledged quantitative easing.

The eurozone recovery ground to a halt in the second quarter after German output shrank and France flatlined, official data showed today.

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.

Eurozone economic confidence increased for a ninth month in January, led by the services industry, adding to evidence that the 18-nation currency bloc’s recovery is gaining traction.

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.

Eurozone services growth accelerated to the fastest in more than two years in September as demand and confidence improved.

German chancellor Angela Merkel lost no time in approaching her Socialist counterparts to agree a grand coalition government following her resounding success at the polls.

Eurozone manufacturing unexpectedly expanded in July for the first time in two years, led by Germany, adding to signs the bloc’s economy is emerging from a record-long recession.

The ECB will wait until its June meeting to cut interest rates, although a move to boost SME lending could be announced at its May meeting, according to Brussels-based chief economist with ING Bank Carsten Brzeski.

The consensus view is that the ECB will keep the main interest rate on hold today, but its president Mario Draghi may signal the he is looking at unconventional ways of boosting lending to the wider economy.

ECB president Mario Draghi’s press conference yesterday turned out to be a damp squib, as he said little that would move the markets either way.

Concerns are growing that the debt crisis across the eurozone is weighing on the German economy following the release of the country’s leading confidence indicator, which shows a downward trend for the fifth month.

Five years on from the start of the financial crisis, bankers worldwide still believe that social responsibility is not a top priority, new research from the Economist Intelligence Unit shows.

Economic sentiment across the EU has fallen sharply in August to reach levels last seen since Lehman Brothers collapsed in Sept 2008.

Eurozone GDP contracted by 0.2% over the second quarter of 2012 compared with the first three months of this year, figures released by Eurostat revealed yesterday.

Money markets are signaling the European Central Bank will cut borrowing costs within the next three months even as the main rate was left unchanged yesterday.

The main indicator for economic sentiment in Germany has dropped for a third month in a row.

An ECB source has said the Frankfurt-based institution would like to see senior bondholders included in the restructuring of banks as part of the EU bailout of the Spanish banking system.

A further £50bn (€62.2bn) was injected into the British economy today as the UK struggles to pull out of its double-dip recession and the eurozone debt crisis intensifies.

Unemployment in the eurozone reached the highest on record as a deepening economic slump and budget cuts prompted companies from Spain to Italy to reduce their workforces.

A deal between Greece and the rest of the eurozone to secure a second massive bailout for the debt-laden country was finally delivered today – but analysts warned the “crisis marathon is not over”.

The European Central Bank (ECB) today revealed it had lent nearly €489bn to the continent’s banks in a bid to boost confidence in the eurozone.

London’s leading shares index surged 3% today as investors cheered the long-awaited action plan from European leaders to tackle the region’s debt crisis.

Investors flocked to the markets after European leaders delivered a long-awaited action plan to tackle the eurozone debt crisis.

EUROPEAN leaders inched towards a comprehensive deal to tackle the debt crisis. At the crunch meeting they are also trying to boost the €440 billion EU rescue facility to up to €1 trillion and impose haircuts of up to 50% on Greek bondholders.

DAVID Duffy looks set to be named chief executive at AIB in the next week or so with speculation mounting over the weekend that the Government will ratify his appointment later this week.

AIB is expected to present Finance Minister Michael Noonan its proposals regarding its next chief executive, later this week.

EUROZONE consumer price inflation jumped unexpectedly to 3% in September, its highest level in almost three years, heaping doubt on bets that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates next week.

THE cost of insuring Irish bank bonds against default increased after legislators approved a burden-sharing bill analysts said was harsher than expected.

Consumers were warned today that there would be no return to the era of cheap money after tough new regulations were drawn up to boost capital reserves held by banks.

The Bank of England is set to hold interest rates at record lows today amid lingering doubts among rate-setters over a sustained recovery for the fragile UK economy.

Chinese output roared ahead at its fastest pace for three years, official figures from the world’s third-biggest economy showed today.

Further worrying US economic news fanned fears over the world’s biggest economy today as consumer inflation dropped into negative territory for the first time in more than 50 years.