The news flow suggesting economic recovery in the euro zone continued this morning when France said unemployment had fallen, but reports of a dip in German retail sales and low French consumer confidence tempered the optimism.
The French government said its seasonally adjusted jobless count fell 28,000 to 2.748 million in July.
That was rare good news on jobs in the euro zone's second biggest economy and followed the fourth monthly fall in Germany in July, a dip of 42,000 to 4.809 million which left the German rate at 11.6 per cent.
In Brussels, the European Commission said that its business climate indicator rose for a second month running in July to -0.07 from - 0.27 in June, saying that confirmed signals of a turnaround, at least in the eyes of industrialists.
The French dip reduced the unemployment rate to 10.1 per cent from 10.2 and provided the centre-right government with a golden opportunity to say things were finally looking up after years of slow economic growth and constant mass job layoffs.