More Signs The Eurozone Is Slowing

Todays eurozone unemployemnt figures - unemployment across the zone rose very slightly - appear to be consistent with the idea that the economies are slowing:

Unemployment in the dozen countries sharing the euro increased in August from a record low as signs of a slowdown in the global economy prompted companies to curtail hiring.

The jobless rate rose for the first time since November 2003, increasing to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent in July, the European Union's statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Inflation at the wholesale level slowed in August as energy prices declined, the office said in a separate report.

``The downward trend in the unemployment rate that began in 2004 appears to have stabilized,'' said Dominic Bryant, an economist at BNP Paribas in London.