News Summary

• The eurozone economy grew by 0.1% in the second quarter of this year, according to preliminary figures released by Eurostat on Wednesday.
• This modest expansion represents a slowdown from the 0.6% GDP growth recorded in the first quarter, but it still exceeded the zero growth predicted by economists in a Reuters poll.
• Stronger-than-expected results in Spain (up.
• 0.7%) and France (up 0.3%) helped offset contractions in Italy and Germany.
• The figures come just days after the announcement of a new EU-US trade deal on Sunday, which will impose a 15% levy on most EU exports to the US.
• Many economists, including those at Deutsche Bank and Capital Economics, now predict that the deal will reduce EU output by around 0.5% this year.