Finally, signs point to end of Europe recession

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – After a year and a half of recession, Europe’s battered economy could finally be showing signs of life.

It’s not the kind of recovery that calls for a big celebration. Any upswing will be a slow and arduous climb – up a slope strewn with high unemployment and scarce credit for businesses.

But signs of improvement are there. On Thursday, a German index of business confidence rose for the third month in a row. Meanwhile, surveys of purchasing managers in the euro area indicate manufacturing activity edged back into growth territory in July for the first time in 18 months.

And there are other indications that Europe has bottomed out.

Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, says the country’s economy – Europe’s biggest – expanded “strongly” in the April-June period. Automaker Daimler AG says it expects to see the continent’s sagging car market start to recover toward the end of the year. In the No. 2 euro economy, France’s Insee index of consumer confidence ticked up in July to 82 from 79 the month before. –The Philippine Star