Eurozone economy rebounds

BRUSSELS, July 24 (AFP): The eurozone economy showed signs of a rebound in July after several months of sluggish activity, but France stood out as a laggard, a closely watched survey showed on Thursday.
"Eurozone growth rebounded in July," the private Markit research group, which published the data, said while warning that the crisis in Ukraine is clouding the outlook.
Its set of leading indicators - the purchasing managers' index (PMI) - turned in a figure of 54, above the 50-point signalling growth or downturn, up from 52.8 in June.
But the French economy showed further signs of slowing with an index reading of 49.4.
The French manufacturing sector was showing signs of sharp downturn and the services sector was sluggish. This reflected gloomy internal demand and a low level of confidence among businesses and households, Markit said.
The survey, widely regarded as reliable leading indicators on the course of economies, showed that countries on the edge of the eurozone which had been hardest hit at the height of the eurozone debt crisis, were achieving their strongest growth since 2007.