Euro zone business activity growing at fastest pace since November, PMIs show

Employment in the common currency bloc has risen for the first time this year as manufacturers resumed hiring after more than three years, while services employment has grown at the fastest pace in eight months.

Price pressures, although still high, have continued to ease, with input cost growth at its slowest in six months and output price inflation easing to a five-month low.

That was in line with a European Central Bank poll which showed consumers trimmed their inflation expectations for the third month on the trot in July.

But doubts remain about whether inflation, at 2.9% in July, will return to the ECB's 2% target anytime soon.

The ECB is expected to raise rates for a second time this year next month, a Reuters poll of economists forecast last week.