More businesses in Germany were concerned about their survival amid the prospect of a recession, and the group continued to be led by retailers, who this time were worried about the Christmas holiday season, survey data from the ifo institute showed Friday. In November, 7.9 percent of German companies felt their economic survival was threatened, up from 7.5 percent in October, the ifo said. Earlier this week, the Mannheim-based think tank had forecast a shallow recession for Germany in the first half of next year, but said the biggest euro area economy would recover by the spring and rebound strongly with incomes rising faster than prices.
Helped by government's electricity and gas price brakes, inflation is expected to fall in the coming months. The European Central Bank on Thursday hiked interest rates again, but at a slower pace. Policymakers expect that rates need to rise significantly at a steady pace in the coming year as Eurozone inflation is forecast to stay uncomfortably high for a long time.
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June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.