The EU economy has been put under huge pressure in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, with France the first to enter recession, as Eurozone leaders are at loggerheads over a plausible financial rescue package.
The 19 countries within the Eurozone have so far been unable to reach an agreement over on the terms that will shape any kind of financial deal.
They are all in agreement that urgent action of some kind will be essential but are currently divided over the details of issuing bonds which will stabilise each of their economies.
The latest reports suggest the two largest Eurozone economies are big in trouble, with France heading into an early recession, and Germany trying to come to terms with a record drop in trade.
Recession in France and Germany?
French central bank, the Bank of France, has released data suggesting a 6% fall in GDP is expected for the second quarter of 2020, whilst data from Germany looks even bleaker, with an estimated 9.8% fall for the same period.
As can be expected with such reports, European stock markets soon reacted negatively towards the news. Just before the session close, the FTSE 100 was 0.85% down to $5655.91, but the FTSE 250 looked a little more hopeful, with a gain of 1.89% to $15862.83.
Across Europe, markets soon started a knock-on effect, with the CAC40 in Paris seeing little to no change at $4438.27; the DAX in Frankfurt slid 0.23% down to $10332.89 and the IBEX in Madrid dropped 0.72% to $6951.80.
Recently, the markets rose on optimism that new coronavirus infection rates were slowing down and death rates falling, but since then, across the week there has been another rise in figures in Spain, Italy, the UK, and America.
Market movement
In New York, traders early in the session saw the Dow Jones up 2.6% to $23242.80 and the NASDAQ rose 2.02% to $8046.73. Later in the session, the S&P 500 followed with a 2.35% increase to $2722.03.
Overnight, the Asian markets returned mixed fortunes. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed down 1.17% at $23970.37, while the Nikkei in Tokyo was 2.13% up to $19353.24.
The GBP rallied against the major currencies, with rates up by 0.48% to $1.2398 against the US Dollar; up by 0.70% to €1.1408 versus the Euro and up by 0.38% to ¥134.75 against the Japanese Yen.
