Germany underlined its status as 'the sick man of Europe' as its once-mighty industrial sector suffered another slump.
In a report that stoked fears that Europe's biggest economy is on course for another quarter of decline, official figures showed production fell 2.4 per cent in August.
That was far worse than the 0.3 per cent expected by economists and cast a further shadow over the eurozone as a whole.
Carsten Brzeski at Dutch banking group ING said the data was 'a cold shower for everyone hoping for a speedy recovery'.
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