Euro Area Annual Inflation at 3%; German Retail Sales Slump

Arthi Gupta
30 Sep, 2011
New York City

Euro-zone annual inflation rose in September and jobless rate remained flat in August. German retail sales slumped 2.9% in August. French public debt and Denmark economy grew in the second quarter. Norway

[R]2:30 PM Frankfurt – Euro-zone annual inflation rose in September and jobless rate remained flat in August. German retail sales slumped 2.9% in August. French public debt and Denmark economy grew in the second quarter. Norway’s jobless rate slipped to 2.5% in September and Italy’s rate decreased to 7.9%.[/R]

Euro-zone Inflation Rises, Jobless Rate Flat

Euro-zone annual inflation rose to 3% in September from 2.5% in August, according to a flash estimate from Eurostat.

Inflation has been staying above the target of ''below, but close to 2 percent'' since December 2010. The statistics office is slated to release final numbers on October 14.

Separately, the jobless rate in the euro-zone held steady at 10% in August for a third successive month, data published by Eurostat showed. The number of unemployed persons fell marginally to 15.7 million in August from 15.8 million in July.

The jobless rate among European Union member states also remained unchanged at 9.5% in August.

Spain continued to have the highest unemployment rate in euro area, at 21.2%, followed by Greece with a jobless rate of 16.7% in the second quarter.

In another report, the Euro-coin indicator decreased for the fourth consecutive month in September, a report from the Center for Economic Policy Research and the Bank of Italy showed today.

The index fell to 0.03%, the lowest level since the summer of 2009, from 0.22% in August.

Italian Inflation Climbs

Inflation in Italy, as per the consumer price index, rose to 3.1% in September from 2.8% in August, data from the statistics office Istat showed.

On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.1% in September compared to the 0.3% rise in August.

German Retail Sales Slump

German retail sales adjusted for inflation and seasonal variations fell 2.9% on a monthly basis in August, the worst since May 2007, following a 0.3% increase in July, according to the latest data from the Federal Statistics Office released today.

Sales of food articles grew 2.2% compared to a year earlier, and spending on non-food products advanced 2.5% in August.

Portuguese Retail Sales Eases

Portugal''s retail sales dropped a seasonally and working-day adjusted 4.6% annually in August, slower than the 5.3% decline in July.

Retail sales of food products fell 2.8% and sales of non-food products dropped 6.3% in August.

On a monthly basis, retail sales gained 0.9% in August versus the 2.6% growth recorded July.

French Public Debt Up

The French public debt increased by €46.4 billion to €1.69 trillion in the second quarter. The French government plans to reduce the budget deficit to 4.5% of gross domestic product in 2012 from 5.7% this year.

Danish Economy Grows

Denmark''s gross domestic product grew a seasonally adjusted 1% in the second quarter, data released by Statistics Denmark showed on Friday.

Private consumption decreased 0.1% sequentially in the second quarter, but public consumption rose 0.9%.

On an annual basis, the GDP increased 1.8% in the second quarter.

Norway’s Jobless Rate Falls

Norway''s jobless rate slipped to 2.5% in September from 2.7% in August. In September, registered unemployed declined 6,200 to 63,000 from the same period of last year.

Italy''s Jobless Rate Drops

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate for Italy fell to 7.9% in August from 8% in July, data from the statistics office Istat showed on Friday. The number of unemployed totaled 2 million in August, down 1.8% from July.

Swiss KOF Economic Barometer Dips

Swiss KOF institute''s economic barometer dropped sharply in September. The KOF Institute said that the index fell to 1.21 in September from 1.61 in August.

Portuguese Output Slides

Industrial production in Portugal fell 0.5% from a year ago in August compared to the 4.4% fall in July. The latest decline was the weakest since May.

On a monthly basis, total industrial production rose 8.3% in August.