A surprise recovery in retail sales took place in January as consumers went on a shopping spree and even the Portuguese took part.
Retail sales went up by 1.1% in January compared to December, but annual sales rose a welcome 3.7%.
Portuguese retailers saw a monthly increase of a whopping 6.8%, the highest increase in the 19-member euro area.
The news was also positive for the annual tally where sales rose by 2.5% compared to January 2014.
Spending was eased by falling petrol prices and the weakness of the euro against the dollar helping exports.
Analysts, desperate for any shard of good news, are hoping that the increased spending may signal that the economy is pulling back from deflation and that recovery may be taking tentative steps.
Much awaited is the start of the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing, due to being this month with an injection of €60 billion per month.
The programme is aimed at boosting confidence and asset prices.
One key impact of the announcement of QE has been to weaken the euro on foreign exchanges.
