Archive for the ‘shines’ Category
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(Reuters) – Stunning German growth and a surge in France produced a defiantly healthy showing from Europe when estimates of economic growth for the first three months of 2008 were published on Thursday.
Economists said that may be the end of it as Europe succumbs to an international downturn, but the news showed that, thanks to business investment, the region started the year in much better form than the almost stagnating U.S. economy.
“Germany is doing quite well, and we should raise a glass of the fizzy stuff to celebrate it. But it is not quite a new ‘wunder’,” said Bank of America economist Holger Schmieding.
There were worry signs behind the headline results from both Germany and France, notably weak consumer demand as commodity price inflation pushed up the cost of fuel, food and the cost of living generally.
The attention-grabber though was that German gross domestic product rose 1.5 percent compared with the final three months of 2007 — twice the pace anticipated by economists, several of whom called the news as sensational, amazing or miraculous, on the face of it at least.
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