Europe’s Stalling Economy May Keep ECB Interest Rate on Hold

Europe’s unexpectedly sharp economic slowdown has increased the risk of another recession and may prevent the European Central Bank from raising interest rates again this year.

The 17-nation euro-area economy may struggle to gather momentum after growing just 0.2 percent in the second quarter, its worst performance since emerging from the last recession in 2009, said economists including Marco Valli at UniCredit Global Research and Stewart Robertson at Aviva Investors. France’s economy stagnated and in Germany, the region’s economic engine, expansion almost stalled.