Eurozone inflation data out on Wednesday arrived as expected and in line with the European Central Bank’s target. With German domestic inflation data also coming in at 2 per cent the day before, but below expectations, there was a small risk of the headline rate undershooting for the whole of the currency bloc.

German headline inflation, according to the national measure, came down to 1.8% year-on-year in December, from 2.3% YoY in November.