Euro Area Inflation Steady; French Output Stagnates

Arthi Gupta
15 Dec, 2011
New York City

Employment in the euro area fell in the third quarter. German private sector improved but French private sector output stagnated in December. Swedish unemployment rate dropped in November to 6.7% and Dutch jobless rate held at 5.8%.

[R]2:15 PM Frankfurt – Employment in the euro area fell in the third quarter. German private sector improved but French private sector output stagnated in December. Swedish unemployment rate dropped in November to 6.7% and Dutch jobless rate held at 5.8%.[/R]

Euro-zone Inflation Steady

Euro-zone inflation held steady at a three-year high in November as initially estimated, final data from Eurostat showed.

Annual inflation was at 3% in November. Inflation has been running ahead of the central bank''s target rate of less than 2%, since December 2010.

Italy Inflation Unrevised at 3.3%

Italy''s consumer price index increased an unrevised 3.3% from a year ago in November, final data released by statistics office Istat showed.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices dropped 0.1% in November.

Euro-zone Employment Falls

Employment in the euro area decreased in the third quarter, data released by statistics office Eurostat showed today.

Employment decreased a seasonally adjusted 0.1% sequentially in the third quarter, reversing the 0.2% growth recorded in the second quarter. In EU27 also employment edged down 0.1% in the third quarter, following the 0.1% growth in the second quarter.

From a year ago, employment increased 0.2% during the three-month period, after rising 0.5% in the previous quarter. In EU27, employment dropped 0.1% annually, reversing the 0.4% growth in the previous quarter.

German Manufacturing Employment Up

Employment in the German manufacturing sector increased from last year in October, data released by the Federal Statistics Office showed today.

The number of employees in manufacturing units with 50 and more employees increased 3.7% on an annual basis to 5.16 million in October.

The number of hours worked in factories advanced 0.4% from a year ago to 663 million during October.

Euro-zone Private Sector Activity Contracts

Euro-zone private sector activity contracted for a successive fourth month in December, flash survey results from Markit Economics showed today.

The composite output index, that measures activity in both manufacturing and services, rose to 47.9 in December from 47 in November.

The purchasing managers'' index for the factory sector rose to 46.9 in December from 46.4 in November. The services activity index was at 48.3 in December compared to 47.5 in the preceding month.

German Private Sector Activity Improves

German private sector improved in December led by services, flash results of a survey by Markit Economics showed Thursday.

The composite output index, that measures activity in both manufacturing and services, rose to a four-month high of 51.3 in December from 49.4 in November.

The services activity index rose to 52.7 in December from 50.3 in November. The purchasing managers'' index for the manufacturing sector climbed to 48.1 in December compared to 47.9 in November.

French Private Sector Output Stagnates

French private sector output remained close to stagnation in December, according to flash results of a survey by Markit Economics.

The composite output index that measures activity in both manufacturing and services was at 49.8 in December.

The purchasing managers'' index for the manufacturing sector was at 48.7 in December compared to 47.3 in November. The services activity rebounded with the relevant index rising to 50.2 in December compared to 49.6 in November.

Hungary Output Grows

Hungary''s industrial output increased a working-day adjusted 3% on an annual basis in October, unrevised from the growth estimated earlier, data released by the Central Statistics Office showed on Thursday. The data also matched the rate of growth recorded in September.

Dutch Retail Sales Drop, Jobless Rate Steady

Retail sales in the Netherlands decreased 1.7% on an annual basis in October as against the 0.7% drop in September, data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics showed.

Retail sales of food and beverages rose 0.1%, while sales of non-food products fell 4.5% from a year ago in October.

Separately, the unemployment rate in Netherlands remained unchanged at 5.8% in November and the number of jobless was around 455,000 in the month.

Sweden Jobless Rate Drops

Sweden''s unemployment rate was 6.7% in November compared to 7.1% in the month a year ago. The unemployment rate for youth in ages between 15 and 24 rose to 20.5% in November from 19.9% a year earlier.

The number of unemployed persons in Sweden decreased 4.3% from last year to around 334,000 in November, while the number of jobless youth edged up 0.2% to about 119,000.