Germany's, France's return to growth is good news for investors

More good news for investors: On Tuesday, Eurostat, the EU's statistic office, announced that the euro-zone economy barely contracted in the second quarter with GDP dipping just 0.1 percent. These encouraging numbers were propelled by a promising Germany and France, both of which unexpectedly returned to growth.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected Europe's euro-zone economy to contract 0.5 percent in the second quarter after a large 2.5 percent contraction in the first quarter. This isn't entirely surprising; in the 27-nation European Union, which includes nations that do not belong to the euro monetary system, GDP declined 0.3 percent in Q2 after a 2.4 percent decline in Q1.