January 7, 2012
Euro-zone business and consumer confidence worsened last month while a wave of poor economic data added to evidence that much of the euro zone may be in a recession that could last well into 2012.
Reflecting the grim news, the European Commission's economic sentiment indicator fell in December for a 10th-straight month to its lowest point in more than a year.
The data released Friday showed that unemployment hit a fresh high and consumer spending declined in November. Factory orders fell in Germany, the largest euro-zone economy, though the country appears to have avoided a recession.
The batch of downbeat economic reports "has recession written all over it," said ING economist Martin Van Vliet.
The euro zone's growth figures for the fourth quarter of 2011 won't be published until February but recent data and surveys suggest the economy contracted in the last three months of the year and many economists predict it will continue to do so in the first quarter of 2012.
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