Euro-zone Inflation Eases to 2.5%; Spanish Unemployment at 20.9%

Arthi Gupta
29 Jul, 2011
New York City

Euro-zone inflation eased to 2.5% in July. German retail sales rose more than estimated and French consumer spending improved in June. Spain jobless rate declined to 20.9% in the second quarter.

[R]2:45 PM Frankfurt – Euro-zone inflation eased to 2.5% in July. German retail sales rose more than estimated and French consumer spending improved in June. Spain jobless rate declined to 20.9% in the second quarter.[/R]

Euro-zone Inflation Eases

Euro-zone annual inflation slowed unexpectedly in July, but continues to stay above 2%.

Inflation fell to 2.5% in July from 2.7% in June, according to the preliminary data published by the European Union statistics office Eurostat.

Separately, a summary index of the current economic situation in the euro area fell in July, data released by Bank of Italy and the Centre for Economic Policy Research showed on Friday.

The monthly Euro-coin indicator fell to 0.45% in July from 0.52% in June.

German Retail Sales Rise

Retail sales in Germany increased 6.3% on a monthly basis after adjusting to seasonal and calendar variations, reversing a 2.5% fall reported in May, according to data from the Federal Statistics Office released today.

Annually, retail sales declined 1% in June following a 3.1% increase in May.

French Producer Prices Fall

French producer prices slid 0.1% on a monthly basis after easing 0.5% in May, according to data from the statistics office Insee published today.

Petroleum product prices fell 2.2% in June compared to the 4.6% fall logged in May. Food product prices rose 0.4%.

On an annual comparison, producer prices grew 6.1% in June.

Hungarian Producer Prices Drops

Hungary''s producer price index decreased 1% from a year ago in June, reversing the 1.2% growth recorded in May, data released by the Central Statistics Office showed.

Producer prices dropped 0.8% on a monthly basis in June after rising 0.1% in May.

Italian Producer Price Inflation Eases

Italy''s producer prices rose 0.1% on a monthly basis in June, according to data released by statistics office Istat today. The producer price index rose 4.3% from a year ago in June, following the downwardly revised 4.5% growth in May.

In another report, Italy''s inflation, as measured by the harmonized index of consumer prices, eased to 2.1% in July from 3% in June, the statistics office Istat said.

French Consumer Spending Up

Household spending in France increased a seasonally adjusted 1.2% on a monthly basis in June, reversing the 0.3% decline in May, data released by statistics office INSEE showed on Friday.

Spending on food products dropped 0.4% on a monthly basis in June.

From a year ago, French consumer spending rose 1.8% in June.

Spain Jobless Rate Drops

Spain''s unemployment rate declined in the three months to June, after rising in the previous two quarters, according to data released by the statistics office INE today.

The jobless rate slid to 20.89% from 21.29% in the previous quarter. The number dropped for the first time in three quarters. The number of unemployed was 4.83 million, down 76,500 from the previous three months.

Separately, Spanish EU harmonized inflation was at 3% in July, according to a flash estimate from the statistics office INE released on Friday.

Norway Jobless Rate Climbs

Norway''s unemployment rate climbed to 2.8% in July, from 2.5% in June, data from the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Service showed on Friday.

The number of unemployed rose to 72,605 in July, from 65,487 in June. The total rose by 5,637 persons from the same month last year. The latest figure is the highest since March.

Swedish GDP Contracts

Swedish working-day adjusted gross domestic product grew 5.3% on an annual basis in the second quarter compared to the 6.4% expansion in the first quarter, data from Statistics Sweden showed.

This was the slowest rate of expansion since the second quarter of 2010.