Eurozone growth slows sharply as French and Italian economies shrink – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as France's economy contracts by 0.1% in the last quarter

• Latest: Eurozone growth slows to just 0.1%
• Italy shrank by 0.3%... French GDP fell 0.1%
• Contraction is blow to Macron
• But Spain and Belgium have grown

3.01pm GMT

Brexit uncertainty may has hurt UK productivity and investment, and held back growth, but it hasn't harmed David Cameron's bank balance....

Related: David Cameron has made 1.6m since Brexit vote in 2016

2.57pm GMT

Coronavirus fears have hit Wall Street again.

The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen by 264 points, or 0.9%, to 28,595 points.

The steady drumbeat of negative headlines combined with government reactions to the spread of the virus is still roiling markets a bit and it's hard for markets to find that stability. It still feels like there is a lot of cash on the sidelines looking to buy the dip it'sjust a matter of timing it appropriately. The idea that this virus is nowhere near as deadly as the common flu in the US was sort of helping calm the situation and yet we still are seeing reactions in the market on every new person infected or passing away.

Understand the fear around the spread of the virus but the market reaction is a bit strange to me still. The reactions of governments has been extreme and will be costly, that is important for markets, but to shake the mighty S&P in the face of such powerful earnings from US companies is a bit of a head scratcher.