Eurozone growth strengthens in first quarter

Growth in the eurozone strengthened to 0.4 percent in the first quarter, official EU data showed Wednesday, with a surprising performance by France where the economy exceeded powerhouse Germany's. The official Eurostat agency's first estimate for the January-March period in the 19-nation eurozone was in line with analyst expectations, and was up from 0.3 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2014. The eurozone has "benefitted from sharply lower oil prices, a weakened euro and in