As Merkel, Sarkozy Meet, More Sour Financial News

Today's financial word of the day: Germany. All eyes are on Angela Merkel's 10am ET talks with Nicolas Sarkozy, as the pair meets to weigh additional moves that could bolster investor confidence in the euro zone. That task will no doubt be a bit tougher following today's report that German economic growth screeched to a near-halt in Q2, which the Financial Times describes as an "unexpected blow." German GDP was up just 0.1% compared to Q1, whose strong 1.5% growth was also revised down to 1.3%.

Though economists weren't expecting a repeat of those numbers, they had pegged estimates at 0.5%. One economist says the news isn't a disaster, but does introduce a "million-dollar question": Is this the "beginning of the end" for Germany's economy? Euro zone growth as a whole also hit a speed bump, falling from a 0.8% rise in Q1 to a 0.2% rise in Q2. (More Angela Merkel stories.)