A report has shown that the euro zone's private sector economy halted a four-month decline in January and expanded, albeit very weakly.
Markit's Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) hinted that the euro zone may avoid recession. The index rose in January to 50.4 from 48.3 in December. Any figure above 50 means that activity rose.
But separate figures from the EU statistics agency showed that retail sales in the euro zone fell for a second month in December, including the busy shopping period before Christmas.
Eurostat said sales were down 0.4% compared with November, giving an annual drop of 1.6%.
The annual drop was the biggest since December 2008 when retail sales also fell 1.6% at what turned out to be the start of the world's biggest post-1930s recession.
Even in Germany, the zone's biggest economy, sales fell 1.4% compared with November and shoppers stayed away from shopss in France and Spain, where sales slid 0.3% and 0.8% respectively.
