Germany and France Have Unexpected Economic Growth

Markets in Europe were lifted as the figures raised hopes that the eurozone's biggest economies can pull the others out of the worst recession the region has known since the Second World War.

Germany 's DAX gained 1.4pc, France's CAC 1pc and London's FTSE 100 1.1pc. , Telegraph.co.uk reports.

Meanwhile, the world is getting smaller. So the good news today that Germany and France had unexpected economic growth is a welcome development across the Atlantic. The world economies are more intertwined today than they ever have been before.

Germany and France both reported that they shed recession in the second quarter. Their economies grew at a 0.3 percent rate, figures released today show, according to the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, those two large economies helped ease the recession in the 16 countries that use the euro , Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

However, Eurostat's figures were better than the predicted 0.5 per cent contraction between April and June.

Compared with the same quarter of 2008, GDP fell by 4.8 per cent in the 27-member EU and by 4.6 per cent in the 16-member eurozone.

Examining the quarter-on-quarter figures, Europe's best performer was Slovakia (2.2 percent), followed by Germany, France, Greece and Portugal (0.3 percent each) , Deutsche Welle reports.