Europe fears manufacturing meltdown will infect rest of economy

Centre of slump: A worker takes a sample of raw iron from a blast furnace at a steel factory in Duisburg, Germany. For now, the source of eurozone’s manufacturing slump is centred in Germany where its PMI has suggested contraction every month this year. — Reuters

MADRID: European industry is in trouble and there’s a risk it will infect other parts of the economy, deepening the slowdown that’s already left the region fragile.

Concern is growing in markets and even at the European Central Bank (ECB) that the services sector won’t be able to withstand a broader manufacturing slump. That would undermine jobs growth and domestic demand, the main pillars propping up confidence in the outlook for the eurozone economy.