Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

• ‘Drab December’ caps another year of declining footfall on UK high street

Markets have opened for trading on this chilly Friday morning and we’ve got a mixed picture across Europe:

FTSE 100 is flat

France’s CAC 40 is down 0.2%

Spain’s IBEX is up 0.1%

Germany’s Xetra DAX is flat

Italy’s FTSE MIB is down 0.35%

High street footfall decreased by 2.7% in December (year-on-year), up from -3.7% in November.

Shopping centre footfall decreased by 3.3% in December (year-on-year), up from -6.1% in November

Retail park footfall was unchanged at 0.0% in December (year-on-year), up from -1.1% in November.

A drab December which saw fewer shoppers in all locations, capped a disappointing year for UK retail footfall. This means 2024 is the second year in a row where footfall has been in decline.

High streets and shopping centres were hit particularly hard throughout the year as people veered towards retail parks to take advantage of free parking and the variety of larger stores.

8.55am GMT: Germany unemployment for December

9:30am GMT: UK mortgage approvals, net mortgage lending, consumer credit for November

1:30pm GMT: US ISM manufacturing index for December