What's going on?

Fresh December economic activity data out on Wednesday showed the eurozone�s had more on its plate than expected recently, but at least it seems to be rising to the challenge.

What does this mean?

Quick reminder: business managers are asked to complete surveys on how busy they�ve been every month � or in this case, leading up to Christmas � to give an indication of economic activity as a whole. And so far in December, a growing manufacturing sector has been more than offset by a shrinking services industry (think everything from restaurants to accountants). So while activity in the eurozone is declining slightly overall, it�s falling by less than economists thought it would. That stronger end to the year might go some way to help the bloc�s economy grow by more � or, uh, shrink by less � than the 2% drop the European Central Bank (ECB) is forecasting.

Why should I care?

For markets: Friendly competition.�

The ECB said earlier this week that the region�s commercial banks � like Santander and Unicredit � will be allowed to start paying limited dividends again next year. It admittedly might not have had much choice after the Bank of England gave its banks the go-ahead last week, which may encourage investors � whose dividends are notoriously important to them � to yank their cash out of eurozone banks in favor of British ones. But whatever the central bank�s motivation, its decision could lure investors back toward banks� cheap-looking �value� stocks and away from the high growth of the tech industry.

The bigger picture: Made in America.

The US�s own survey data on Wednesday pointed to a pick-up in both manufacturing and services industry activity, but the latter still fell short of expectations. That stands to reason: other newly published data showed the country�s retail sales fell by more than expected both last month and the month before, and it�s no stretch to think that the drop-off could�ve carried into this one too.