European shares slide on dismal data

LONDON: European stock markets fell on Monday after a key survey pointed to weakness in the eurozone economy while some travel and tourism stocks benefitted from the collapse of British giant Thomas Cook. Both Frankfurt and Paris fell by around one percent after data from a closely watched survey showed that Brexit and trade war fears drove eurozone business growth to its lowest level in six years in September. IHS Markit´s composite eurozone PMI, seen as a key indicator of business confidence, fell to 50.4 in September, down from 51.9 in August — the lowest reading since June 2013. It warned that the single currency area´s economy was “close to stalling”.