Also in Europe, consumer price inflation growth slowed in December in the eurozone.

Official data shows that the block's consumer price inflation grew 1.4 percent year-on-year, down from 1.5 percent in November. Excluding energy and unprocessed food, the core inflation rose 1.1 percent year-on-year. That was the same as in November and in October. The figure was far below the European Central Bank's inflation target of below but close to 2 percent. The ECB has been buying government bonds to inject more liquidity into the banking system to stimulate growth. The euro zone economy has been growing at its fastest pace in a decade and unemployment is at nine-year lows. But that hasn't yet translated into significantly faster price growth.