the word "spell"
ING senior economist Carsten Brzeski says in France, Europe's second largest economy, what is now a double dip contraction for the French economy spells more trouble.
what is "double dip contraction"? And what does "spell" mean in this sentence?

Question

Answer

I believe it means that the French economy has contracted, or become smaller, twice recently. Literally a double dip is an ice cream cone with two scoops of ice cream, so describing something as a double dip, means it was done twice. In this case 'spell' means signifies, or indicates.

Answer

A "double dip recession" (or contraction) is an economics term, it means the economy suffered a contraction/recession, recovered for a short time, and then fell again.

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