Euro-Zone Economy Springs to Life

BY NICHOLAS WINNING

LONDON—The euro zone's economy grew at the strongest annual rate for three and a half years in the first quarter, led by a powerful surge in Germany and France, official data showed Friday.

The stronger-than-expected growth rate is likely to fuel expectations the European Central Bank will raise interest rates again soon, even though the figures also showed Italy and Spain lagged and Portugal fell back into recession.

The combined gross domestic product of the euro zone's 17 member states grew 0.8% from the fourth quarter of 2010 and 2.5% compared with the first quarter of last year, marking the ...

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Euro-Zone Meeting, Rumors Show Anxieties

BY MARCUS WALKER, CHARLES FORELLE AND DAVID CRAWFORD

A small group of top finance officials from the euro zone met in Luxembourg late Friday to discuss the currency bloc's aid programs for Greece and Portugal, as well as the next chief of the European Central Bank. But a number of conflicting media reports about the meeting's agenda underscored a sense of anxiety about the prospects for financially troubled economies in the euro zone.

A report on the German website Spiegel Online suggesting the meeting was due to discuss a Greek request to leave the euro ...

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