Investing.com - The euro zone’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest level in more than four years in January, 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 10.3% from 10.4% in December. This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro area since August 2011. Analysts had expected the jobless rate to hold steady at 10.4% in January.
The EU28 unemployment rate was 8.9% in January, down from 9.0% in December, and from 9.8% in January 2015. This is the lowest rate recorded in the EU28 since May 2009.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.0858 from around 1.0862 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7781 from 0.7784 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were broadly higher. The EURO STOXX 50 rose 0.9%, Germany's DAX jumped 1.2%, France’s CAC 40 tacked on 0.4%, while London’s FTSE 100 added 0.45%.