In Frankfurt, airline operator Deutsche Lufthansa helped lead the DAX into negative territory, falling 1.3%, followed by pharmaceutical company Merck, and chemical company BASF which were down 1.1% each. The FTSE rose 0.85%, the DAX dropped 0.48%, and the CAC-40 lost 0.50%. In economic news, the inflation rate in Germany, as measured by the consumer price index, is expected to be 1.7% in December, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).