For more news visit ☛ http://english.ntdtv.com<br />Follow us on Twitter ☛ http://twitter.com/NTDTelevision<br />Follow us on Facebook ☛ http://me.lt/9P8MUn<br /><br />Key data suggests the euro zone's economy is likely to post near-zero growth in the current quarter through September. Even the strongest members of the bloc are feeling the pinch.<br /><br />Economic growth is stagnating in Europe, according to new surveys of the manufacturing and services sectors.<br /><br />Manufacturing activity - which had been driving the recovery in the 17 nation euro zone, shrank for the first time since September 2009.<br /><br />The bloc's dominant service sector is stagnant this month after two years of growth.<br /><br />However the flash Purchasing Managers' Index data is better than expected.<br /><br />The surveys were conducted by Markit -- a global financial information services company.<br /><br />[Chris Williamson, Chief Economist, Markit]:<br />"Not to be too gloomy but order books just fell into contraction territory. For the first time in two years across manufacturing and services, there's a decline in demand for goods and services signalled here."<br /><br />This will give little relief to policymakers struggling to contain the region's debt crisis.<br /><br />It shows an economic slowdown is spreading to core members of the bloc, including Germany.<br /><br />Earlier data from Germany showed its manufacturing sector growing faster than expected.<br /><br />But growth in its service sector virtually ground to a halt.<br /><br />The latest German ZEW survey of investor sentiment shows the biggest one-month drop in five years in August.<br /><br />Markets largely shrugged that off - and the euro also made advances.
