Investing.com - The euro zone’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest level in more than four years in December, fueling optimism over the health of the region's economy, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, Eurostat said that the euro zone’s unemployment rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 10.4% from 10.5% in November. This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since September 2011. Analysts had expected the jobless rate to hold steady at 10.5% in December.
The EU28 unemployment rate was 9.0% in December, stable compared to November. This is the lowest rate recorded in the EU28 since June 2009.
Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Germany (4.5%) and the highest in Greece (24.5% in October 2015) and Spain (20.8%).
EUR/USD was trading at 1.0917 from around 1.0916 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7598 from 0.7600 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were down sharply. Germany's DAX fell 1.6%, the EURO STOXX 50 dropped 1.7%, France’s CAC 40 slumped 2%, while London’s FTSE 100 declined 1.8%.