FX: Euro zone retail sales flat, despite growth expectations
Retail sales in the euro zone saw no monthly change in December, despite market expectations of growth, official figures showed on Wednesday.
The figure published by Eurostat, the European Union's statistics office, was well below analysts' forecasts of a 0.4% increase.
However, Eurostat revised November's sales figures for the 16-nation region to show a 0.5% monthly decline from an earlier estimate of a 1.2% fall.
European stock markets remained in positive territory following the release of the data.
During late morning European trading, France’s CAC 40 was up 0.15%; Germany's DAX rose 0.01%; Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.09%; and the EURO STOXX 50 increased 0.04%.
The outlook for U.S. markets, meanwhile, was dim as Dow Jones Industrial Average futures indicated a drop of 0.24%, S&P 500 futures pointed to a decline of 0.24% and Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a fall of 0.28%.
