Eurozone inflation falls to 2.4 percent in May

Inflation across the 17 countries that use the euro fell by more than anticipated in May, official figures showed Thursday - a development that will likely add pressure on the European Central Bank to cut interest rates next week.

BRUSSELS — Inflation in the eurozone has fallen to a three-year low and unemployment hit a new record, cementing expectations of an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank later this week. Inflation tumbled to 1.2% in April, the lowest level since February 2010 and the biggest monthly drop in more than four years, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat said on Tuesday, reflecting an economy mired in recession.

Get ready for record low interest rates in Europe as ECB ready to push boundaries of crisis role A Reuters survey of 73 analysts showed a 60-percent chance the ECB will cut rates by 25 basis points to a record low of 1.0 percent -- a floor it previously reached during the financial crisis in 2009. It cut rates by a similar amount in November.

FRANKFURT — The European Central Bank kept interest rates steady on Thursday and is likely to eschew dramatic action to help Italy or other eurozone countries, despite the threat of political turmoil in Rome reigniting the bloc’s debt crisis. At its monthly policy meeting, the ECB held its main refinancing rate at a record-low 0.75%, in line with what the majority of economists in a Reuters poll had expected. The attention turns now to a 8:30 a.m. news conference, held by ECB President Mario Draghi, himself an Italian.

LONDON — The eurozone’s economic slump was a little less pronounced in November than previously thought, although there are few signs the region will emerge from recession any time soon, business surveys showed on Wednesday. Markit’s Eurozone Composite PMI, which gauges business activity across thousands of companies, rose in November to 46.5 from 45.7 in October – markedly higher than the preliminary reading of 45.8 reported 10 days ago.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares rose Wednesday as Japan's benchmark surged to its highest level since Sept. 2008 though wariness over corporate earnings pulled European indexes lower in early trading.

The weakness in economic data (not to be confused with the centrally-planned anachronism known as the "markets") started overnight when despite a surge in Japanese consumer spending (up 5.2% on expectations of 1.6%, the most in nine years) by those with access to the stock market and mostly of the "richer" variety, did not quite jive with a miss in retail sales, which actually missed estimates of dropping "only" -0.8%, instead declining 1.4$.

BRUSSELS — Eurozone factory output continued its steep fall in autumn this year, underscoring the feeble domestic demand that risks prolonging the bloc’s recession. Industrial production in the 17 countries sharing the euro fell 1.4% in October after falling sharply in September, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat said on Wednesday. That was much worse than the modest growth expected by economists in a Reuters poll.