Global slowdown ’becoming a genuine possibility,’ as Europe, China decelerate further

By Andy Bruce, Reuters

LONDON - The euro zone's economic woes accelerated last month and China's slowdown looked likely to extend to a seventh quarter, surveys on Wednesday showed, while the United States proved the bright spot with better-than-expected news on services and jobs. 

Purchasing managers indexes (PMIs) suggested the aggressive actions taken by the world's central banks over the last two months have yet to convince consumers to start spending again.

The chances of the euro zone in particularly seeing growth again before next year has dwindled.

Falling new orders and more layoffs marked a worsening decline for euro zone companies, the PMIs showed, while growth of China's normally robust services weakened to an almost two-year low last month. More >>