The unemployment rate of the embattled euro zone in February touched its highest level since the region's monetary unit was introduced in 1999, according to The Associated Press.
On the first trading day of the second quarter of 2012, the shared currency of the European Union slipped against the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen, Reuters reports. Weak manufacturing data from the region also pulled down the value of the euro as concerns spread about a deepening
economic recession.
One economist cited data about the region's gross domestic product shrinking again.
"It looks odds-on that euro zone GDP contracted again in the first quarter of 2012 … thereby moving into recession," chief European economist Howard Archer with IHS Global Insight told The Associated Press. "And the prospects for the second quarter of 2012 currently hardly look rosy."
The 17-nation unemployment rate in February registered at 10.8 percent after having checked in at 10.7 percent during the month prior, according to the statistics office of the European Union. Of the 17 nations, seven countries have unemployment rates higher than 10 percent.
The weak economic information in the European purchasing managers indices prompted some investors to compare and contrast economic situations in Europe and the U.S. as the latter is well into a recovery.
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