Italy and Spain see growth falter amid overall eurozone rise
The 19-country eurozone economy continued to grow at a solid rate during August despite sharp slowdowns in Italy and Spain, figures show.
Financial information firm IHS Markit said its measure of business activity across manufacturing and services - called the composite purchasing managers' index - rose to 54.5 points during August from 54.3 the previous month.
Anything above 50 indicates expansion and August's level points to quarterly economic growth of around 0.4%, in line with the second-quarter outcome.
Chris Williamson, IHS Markit's chief business economist, said Italy saw growth slow sharply in August, suggesting "the region's third-largest economy is on course for its weakest expansion for nearly two years, while in Spain the third quarter could be the worst for almost five years".
