Economic activity slowed in Germany and declined in France during the three months through September, indicating that the euro zone's nascent recovery faltered in the summer, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Economists forecast that activity will pick up again toward year-end, albeit very modestly, in light of rising business sentiment and reduced tensions in the euro zone's government bond markets.
ermany's gross domestic product—the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy—increased 0.3% in the third quarter from the preceding period, the federal statistics office said Thursday. The outcome met economists' forecasts.
But it marked a significant slowdown from the second quarter, when German GDP swelled 0.7% from the preceding period, buoyed by a rebound in construction and other production after a harsh winter.
France's GDP unexpectedly contracted by 0.1% in the third quarter, after expanding by a quarterly rate of 0.5% in the second quarter, data from the country's Insee statistics bureau showed Thursday.
According to JP Morgan, in annualized terms the German economy grew by 1.3% in the third quarter, while the French economy contracted by 0.6%. By comparison, the U.S. economy grew by 2.8% in the same period.
French finance minister Pierre Moscovici said the economy will still meet the government's forecast and record slight growth for the whole of 2013.
"We had an excellent second quarter and we knew the third would be close to flat so I reiterate that we will have between 0.1% and 0.2% growth in 2013."
Read more of this report from The Wall Street Journal.