German Inflation Eases, French Current Account Deficit Narrows

Arthi Gupta
11 Jul, 2012
New York City

French current account deficit narrowed and Spanish leading indicator index fell in May. Inflation in Germany eased but in Hungary rose in June and the Czech unemployment rate dropped in June.

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – French current account deficit narrowed and Spanish leading indicator index fell in May. Inflation in Germany eased but in Hungary rose in June and the Czech unemployment rate dropped in June.[/R]

French Deficit Narrows

French current account deficit narrowed to €4.1 billion in May from a €4.4 billion shortfall recorded in April, data from Bank of France showed today.

The deficit in goods account dropped to €5.6 billion in May from € 6 billion in April.

German Inflation Eases

Germany''s consumer price inflation eased to 1.7% in June, in line with the preliminary estimates, final data released by statistics office Destatis showed today. In May, the inflation rate was 1.9%.

From a month ago, consumer prices declined 0.1% in June after falling 0.2% in May. The monthly decline matched flash estimates, the agency said.

Hungarian Inflation Rises

Hungary''s consumer price inflation rose to 5.6% in June from 5.3% in May, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office said.

Food prices rose 5% annually in June. On a monthly basis, the consumer price index rose 0.1% in June.

Portugal Inflation Stable

Portugal''s EU harmonized consumer prices remained unchanged at 2.7% in June, the lowest rate since December 2010, data from Statistics Portugal showed.

On a monthly basis, the HICP fell 0.2% in June following the 0.3% fall in May.

Czech Jobless Rate Drops

The Czech unemployment rate dropped to 8.1% in June from 8.2% in May, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs said.

The unemployment rate for women was 9.6% and that for men was 6.9% in June.

The job offices registered altogether 474,586 job seekers at the end of June, down 7,513 from the prior month.

Spanish Leading Index Declines

The Conference Board''s leading economic index for Spain declined for a third straight month in May.

The leading economic index declined 0.6% on a monthly basis in May following the 1.5% fall in April. The coincident index, that measures the current economic activity, remained unchanged.