Euro Area PPI Rises 6.1%; Spain

Arthi Gupta
02 Sep, 2011
New York City

Euro area zone producer prices increased but Czech retail sales fell in July. Spanish unemployment and export price inflation rose in August. Hungary trade surplus narrowed in June.

[R]2:00 PM Frankfurt – Euro area zone producer prices increased but Czech retail sales fell in July. Spanish unemployment and export price inflation rose in August. Hungary trade surplus narrowed in June.[/R]

Euro-zone PPI Rises

Euro area producer prices increased 6.1% in July from a year ago compared to the 5.9% rise recorded in June, data from Eurostat showed today.

On a monthly basis, producer prices climbed 0.5% in July, after remaining stable in June.

In the EU27, the industrial producer price index rose 0.4% on a monthly basis taking the annual increase to 7% in July.

Spanish Unemployment, Export Price Inflation Up

Spain''s jobless rate rose 1.25% or 51,185 from the previous month to 4.13 million in August, the Labour Ministry said on Friday. On a yearly basis, the number of unemployed rose 161,266 in August.

Spain logged the highest unemployment rate of 21.2% in the euro area, Eurostat said on Wednesday.

Spanish export price inflation as well as import price inflation accelerated in July, according to data released from the statistics office INE today.

The export price index advanced 5.2% from a year ago in July, from the 4.7% increase in June. Import price inflation soared to 9.2% in July from 7.7% in June. The annual increase in energy prices was the major factor behind the acceleration.

On a monthly comparison, export prices rose 0.3% in July, and import prices dipped 0.6%.

Czech Retail Sales Decline

Czech non-adjusted retail sales fell 1.7% in July from a year ago compared to the 3.3% decline in June due to a lower number of working days, data from the Czech Statistics Office showed today.

Hungary Surplus Shrinks

Hungary''s trade surplus fell to a downwardly revised €609.3 million in June from € 631 million in the same month a year ago. In May, the surplus was €705.6 million.

Exports eased to a revised 3.1% from a year ago in June from the 20.5% increase in May. A year ago, exports recorded a 25.2% rise.

Imports slumped 8% in June from the 15.6% rise reported in May. Last year, there was a 20.2% gain in imports.

Norwegian Jobless Rate Falls

Norway''s unemployment rate declined to 2.7% in August from 2.8% in July. In August 2010, the jobless rate was 2.9%.

The number of unemployed persons dropped to 71,344 in August from 72,605 in July. In August last year, the number of jobless was 76,101.

However, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the number of unemployed increased to 85,646 in August from 84,320 in July. In August 2010, the seasonally adjusted number of jobless persons was 88,859, the agency said.