Euro zone business activity shrinks but Covid vaccine hopes boost optimism

Eurozone business activity contracted sharply this month as renewed lockdowns forced many firms in the bloc’s dominant service industry to close temporarily, although news of possible vaccines boosted hopes for 2021, surveys showed on Monday.

The bloc's economy is on track for its first double-dip recession in nearly a decade as a second wave of the coronavirus sweeps across Europe, a Reuters poll suggested last week. But on Monday, Britain's AstraZeneca said its vaccine could be around 90 per cent effective without any serious side effects.

Pfizer and Moderna have also developed apparently effective vaccines and Monday’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showed