Survey: Eurozone Recovery Loses Further Steam in November

Like Japan, the 18-country eurozone faces the real prospect of sliding back into recession, a closely watched survey indicated Thursday, in an another downbeat development that's is likely to ratchet up the pressure on the European Central Bank to enact further stimulus. Financial information company Markit said its purchasing managers' index for the eurozone, a broad gauge of business activity, fell to a 16-month low of 51.4 points in November from 52.1 in October. Though anything above 50 indicates expansion, the survey suggests a recession isn't far away. Markit's chief economist Chris Williamson said the decline 'raises the risk of the region slipping back into a renewed downturn' and that quarterly growth in the last three months of the year is set to be just 0.1-0.2 percent. Figures last week showed the eurozone grew only 0.2 percent in the third quarter.