Eurozone Falls Back Into Recession

The eurozone officially has a double-dip recession on its hands. The 17-nation euro bloc fell into that second dip in the third quarter, with GDP falling 0.1%, the European Union's statistics office announced today. Since that marks its second straight quarter of decline—it was down 0.2% in the second quarter—it's officially a recession.

But economists had widely predicted the decline, Bloomberg reports, and some were surprised it wasn't any worse. "Overall I think it’s remarkable that we haven’t seen … a stronger decrease in economic activity considering the strength of the eurozone debt crisis," one economist said. And some of the eurozone's stronger economies are still in the black; German GDP rose 0.2%, as did France's, rebounding from a 0.1% decrease last quarter. (More eurozone stories.)