Receding Greek crisis helps boost eurozone growth

Hiring and business confidence rises in the eurozone, with Spain and Italy performing strongly

The eurozone's private sector is growing at its fastest rate in four years, with business confidence boosted by the easing of the Greek debt crisis despite growing fears over global growth.

Improved confidence across the 19-member currency bloc prompted companies to hire more people last month to deal with rising business volumes. Spain was the star performer but growth in France almost ground to a halt, according to the latest PMI (purchasing managers index) surveys from Markit.