The eurozone economy maintained a robust pace of expansion at the end of 2016, according to PMI survey data, rounding off the best quarter this year. Price pressures meanwhile continued to mount. The Markit Eurozone PMI held steady at 53.9 in December according to the flash estimate, based on around 85% of usual monthly survey responses, indicating that business activity grew at a rate identical to November's 11-month high.

While service sector activity continued to rise, the rate of increase slowed, accompanied by similar moderations in growth of both employment and new business inflows.