The French stepped up their shopping more rapidly than expected last month, possibly encouraged by their country's surprise performance in the World Cup, helping to lift the euro zone's overall economic performance.
Household spending on manufactured goods leapt 1.7 per cent in June, after a 0.9 per cent rise in May, according to the Insee statistics office. That highlighted the continued strength of consumer spending in France, where economic growth is likely to be faster this year than in Germany.
Despite high unemployment and political disillusionment, French consumer spending has been encouraged by the strength of the country's housing market and low interest rates.
Mathieu Kaiser, economist at BNP Paribas, suggested that France's football team might have boosted spending on televisions, as well as overall confidence - even though the national team was defeated by Italy in the World Cup final.
"They lost, but they had an unexpectedly good tournament," he said. BNP Paribas estimates French consumer spending rose by 0.8 per cent in the second quarter - the same pace as the overall economy
Football may also help explain a sharp jump in Italian consumer confidence this month, as reported yesterday by the ISAE think-tank.
It said expectations for Italy's economic outlook "might have been boosted by the climate of euphoria linked to recent sporting events".
However, economists fear World Cup effects will soon fade, with French consumer spending slowing in coming months as the European Central Bank lifts interest rates and the housing market cools.
Higher oil prices and the Middle East crisis are casting a shadow over the euro zone's outlook.
In Germany, official figures confirmed the strength of the recovery in the construction sector, which has acted as a brake on growth.
After a weak start to the year, hit by bad weather, May orders were almost 12 per cent up on a year before.
Earlier this week, the Bundesbank cited the construction rebound as a main reason that it expected a "marked" acceleration in second-quarter GDP growth from the 0.4 per cent seen in the first quarter.
However, worries about the outlook led to a sharp and unexpected fall in the ZEW German investor confidence indicator - the sixth consecutive monthly decline.
