VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week and job cuts declined sharply in December, suggesting the labor market is tightening.

Euro zone economic sentiment was unchanged in December against the previous two months, data showed on Thursday, as a more upbeat end-of-year mood in the services and retail sectors and among consumers was offset by a gloomier industry.

The euro hit a nine-year trough on Wednesday as collapsing oil prices and worries about the world economy drove skittish investors into the arms of safe-haven sovereign debt.

The euro zone economy ended 2014 with its worst quarter for over a year as further price cutting failed to significantly drive up business activity, adding pressure on the European Central Bank to act, surveys showed.

The euro slumped to a nine-year low on Monday as investors bet that the prospect of inflation across the region turning negative and mounting political uncertainty in Greece will force the European Central Bank to unleash quantitative easing.

Greek leftwing opposition leader Alexis Tsipras said the European Central Bank (ECB) could not exclude Greece if it decides to move to a full "quantitative easing" program to stimulate the euro zone's faltering economy.

Asian markets were set for a cautious close to 2014 on Wednesday as worries about Greece's future in the euro zone served as an excuse to take profits on popular trades.

European shares and periphery euro zone bonds tumbled on Monday after the Greek parliament rejected the government's presidential candidate, setting the stage for an election that anti-bailout party Syriza could win.

Greece's future in the euro zone may hang in the balance once more, but investors believe the market fallout from any current political turbulence can be insulated, unlike during the region's sovereign debt crisis of 2012.

The global economy is ending the year in a fragile state with factory activity shrinking in China, euro zone business growth remaining weak, and emerging market giant Russia in a spiraling currency crisis.

Italian police on Friday seized 556,000 euros ($692,000) in fake euro coins minted in China from a ship container in the port city of Naples, investigators said.

The guessing game over the timing of euro zone money printing will intensify as the European Central Bank unveils a closely watched gauge of policy in the coming week, the highlight of a calendar dominated by Europe's malaise.

European stocks and government bonds dipped on Monday as weak data from Asia, a rating downgrade for Italy and the slump in oil prices stoked concerns about global growth.

Euro zone ministers are considering extending Greece's bailout by six months to mid-2015, according to a document obtained by Reuters, but Athens said it was only willing to consider an extension of a few weeks to the unpopular program.

The European Central Bank will spell out the scale of economic malaise facing the euro zone after it meets on Thursday under growing pressure to take dramatic action to prevent the bloc going into reverse.