Investing.com - The euro zone’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest level in almost four years in October, 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 10.7% in October from 10.8% a month earlier. This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since January 2012. Analysts had expected the jobless rate to hold steady at 10.8% in November.
The EU28 unemployment rate was 9.3% in October, stable compared to September. This is the lowest rate recorded in the EU28 since September 2009.
The data showed that among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Germany (4.5%) and the highest in Greece (24.6% in August 2015) and Spain (21.6%).
EUR/USD was trading at 1.0589 from around 1.0598 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7020 from 0.7026 earlier.
The euro index, which tracks the single currency against a basket of six major rivals, was at 85.49, compared to 85.54 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were mostly lower. Germany's DAX shed 0.2%, the EURO STOXX 50 dipped 0.1%, France’s CAC 40 slumped 0.3%, while London’s FTSE 100 inched up 0.45%.