An EU survey has shown that European business and consumer confidence improved in December for a ninth month running, with a big jump in Britain.
The European Commission's economic sentiment indicator for the euro zone rose to 91.3 points in December, up 2.5 points from November. The index hit a record low 64.6 points in March.
For the EU as a whole, economic confidence increased by 4.1 points from November to 92 points, with an 8.2-point jump in Britain, which - unlike most other big European economies - remains officially in recession.
The improvement in both the euro zone and the wider EU was mainly due to higher confidence in industry, the commission said.
Meanwhile the commission's separate business climate indicator also improved in December in the euro zone for a ninth consecutive month, standing at minus 1.22 points, up from minus 1.53 points in November.
Separate figures from EU data agency Eurostat showed that euro zone retail sales fell in November, as consumers tightened their belts ahead of Christmas spending.
The volume of retail sales in the euro zone fell by 1.2% compared with October and by 4% from a year earlier.
