New car sales in France were down 12.8% last month, compared with September 2017. On the whole, however, market decline is relatively contained. While August saw 43,000 extra new-vehicle registrations in France (+40% compared with the same month last year), the counter-reaction in September was less strong, with only 22,000 registrations less (-12.8% to 149,000 registrations). Source Fleet Europe
The Bank of Italy said Italy’s public debt hit a new high of 2,560.5 billion euros in July, up 29.9 billion with respect to June. Source Ansa
Austria has said it still supports the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, despite growing reservations about the project in parts of Europe following the poisoning of Russian opposition figure Aleksei Navalny. Source Radio Free Europe
The U.S. budget deficit hit an all-time high of $3 trillion for the first 11 months of this budget year, the Treasury Department said Friday.
The deficit from October through August is more than double the previous 11-month record of $1.37 billion set in 2009. At that time the government was spending large sums to get out of the Great Recession triggered by the 2008 financial crisis. Source CBS
