(Bloomberg) -- France’s economy offers a glimmer of light against an otherwise grim backdrop in the euro area. Even as protests swept through the big cities, growth held at 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter and France was one of the few economies to register progress in industrial production at year end. With confidence stabilizing and spending power getting a boost from planned tax cuts and recent government giveaways, there’s good reason to think consumption will lift the economy in the first quarter, according to research by Bloomberg Economics.

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