LONDON (AP) — The latest on the turmoil afflicting global financial markets (all times local):

9:30 a.m.

The main economic release Friday is the first estimate of fourth-quarter economic growth across the 19-country eurozone.

Following a flurry of releases, including news that Germany expanded by a quarterly rate of 0.3 percent, there is a growing consensus that the eurozone also grew at the same 0.3 percent tick.

The recent turmoil in global financial markets has raised fears that growth will falter this year.

Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics, says the downside risks have increased and as a result he thinks the European Central Bank will back "further decisive policy support" at its March meeting.

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8:20 a.m.

European stock markets have opened higher following a rebound in the price of oil and despite another slide in Japan's main stock index.

Soon after the open, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 1 percent at 5,591 while the CAC-40 in France rose 1.6 percent to 3,960.

The increases, seen across Europe, come at the end of what's been a tumultuous week in financial markets with investors fretting over the scale of the global economic slowdown and the ability of banks to weather the storm. Those concerns still weighed heavily Friday on Japan's Nikkei index, which fell 4.8 percent.

One reason why sentiment has improved in Europe is that oil prices bounced back from 13-year lows. A barrel of benchmark New York crude was up 3 percent at $27.