France and Germany exit recession

The French and German economies both grew by 0.3% between April and June, bringing to an end recessions in two of Europe’s largest economies.“The data is very surprising. After four negative quarters France is coming out of the red,” said French Finance and Economy Minister Christine Lagarde.

Few analysts expected the economies to come out of recession this early.

The eurozone’s official gross domestic product (GDP) figures will be released later on Thursday morning.