The euro slipped after a weak retail sales data was and dismal services sector PMI survey in the single currency zone, raising concerns about growth prospects. Eurostat said euro zone retail sales fell 0.1 pct in December from November, and were down 2.0 pct year-on-year, worse than expectations for a 0.3 pct monthly rise and a 0.6 pct decline from a year earlier. This came after the euro zone services PMI for January was revised down to 50.6 from the flash estimate of 52.0, the weakest level since July 2003 and taking the index close to the 50 level, below which would indicate contraction in the sector. "Today's weak euro-zone retail sales and final PMI data provide further evidence that the economy is not rebalancing away from the industrial and external sectors towards the consumer and service sectors as hoped," said Ben May at Capital Economics. The weak readings may increase speculation that the European Central Bank will have to temper its hawkish stance and look to cut interest rates sometime over the coming months. "While the ECB is unlikely to relax monetary policy in the near term due to inflation concerns, we suspect that markedly weaker euro zone growth and a strong euro will lead to the ECB trimming interest rates by mid-year," said Howard Archer, chief European economist at Global Insight.