Germany and Global Slowdown

global slowdown: Recent data is fuelling fears that the global recovery is losing steam. With so much of the worlds fortunes tied up with the US, a flurry of weak data from the worlds largest economy triggered renewed jitters among investors. In September, retail sales fell for the first time since January, and the Empire manufacturing report for New York indicated a sharp slowdown. As global slowdown fears grow, oil slumped to a four-year low. Anxiety over spread of Ebola Ebola screening in Morocco Photograph: Abdeljalil Bounhar/AP, according to The Guardian. The latest economic data coming out of Germany suggests Europes largest economy is on the brink of recession. The economy shrank by 0.2% in the second quarter and there is every indication that a contraction is possible in the third, tipping Germany into a technical recession. The powerhouse of manufacturing has suffered a slowdown in industrial production and falling exports. Given German has played a key role in propping up some of its weaker fellow eurozone members during the crisis years, investors are fearful are what the future might hold. A return of the eurozone crisis Eurozone flag. Photograph: Getty Images European markets are in panic mode with all major indices down sharply. It follows a widespread sell-off on both sides of the Atlantic on Wednesday. Here are seven reasons why investors are so nervous: Fears of a global slowdown led by the US Times Square, New York City Photograph: Mbbirdy/Getty Images/Vetta Fears are mounting that Ebola will become widespread beyond West Africa. The latest escalation of anxiety follows confirmation in the US that a second healthcare worker in Texas was infected after treating the first patient in the US to die from the virus. It emerged that the second worker, a nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian hospital in Dallas, had flown from Cleveland, Ohio, to Dallas the day before she reported Ebola symptoms. Germany is on the brink of recession The production line of the Opel factory in Ruesselsheim, Germany. Photograph: AP (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.