Economic growth in the euro zone sped up to 0.6% in the third quarter from 0.3% in the previous three months, a first estimate by the EU's Eurostat statistics agency showed this morning.
The data, the strongest quarterly growth since the beginning of 2004, were at the top of the European Commission's forecast range of 0.2-0.6% and beat private economists' estimates for growth of 0.5%.
The third quarter figure brought the annual rate of growth to 1.5%, up from 1.1% in Q2.
Some economists had suggested that a strong Q3 growth figure could make an early increase in euro zone interest rates more likely.
