Euro Zone Inflation Rises to 2.6%, Spanish Home Prices Slump

Arthi Gupta
14 Sep, 2012
New York City

Euro area annual inflation increased to 2.6% in August but employment was stable in the second quarter. Hungarian production fell but Italian surplus rose in July. Spanish home prices slumped in the second quarter.

[R]3:30 PM Frankfurt – Euro area annual inflation increased to 2.6% in August but employment was stable in the second quarter. Hungarian production fell but Italian surplus rose in July. Spanish home prices slumped in the second quarter.[/R]

Euro Zone Inflation Climbs, Employment Stable

Euro area annual inflation increased to 2.6% in August, from 2.4% in July, final data issued by Eurostat showed today. A year earlier the rate was 2.5%.

From a month ago, inflation was 0.4% in August.

In EU27, annual inflation increased to 2.7% in August from 2.5% in July. A year earlier the rate was 3%.

On a monthly basis, inflation was 0.4% in August.

Separately, the number of persons employed remained stable in the euro area during the second quarter, after falling 0.3% sequentially in the prior quarter, Eurostat reported today.

There were 146.4 million people employed in the euro area in the second quarter.

Annually, employment fell 0.6% in the euro area in the second quarter, following a 0.5% decline in the first quarter.

Employment in EU27 rose 0.1% sequentially in the second quarter, from the 0.1% drop in the first quarter.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, employment fell 0.2% in the EU27 in the second quarter, from a 0.2% drop in the first quarter.

Hungarian Output Declines

Hungary''s industrial production decreased a working-day adjusted 2.2% annually in July, following a 0.6% rise in production in June, data released by the Central Statistics Office showed.

On a monthly basis, industrial production dropped a seasonally and working-day adjusted 1.2% in July, from 2.2% in June.

Swedish Economy Weakens

The seasonally adjusted gross domestic product in Sweden rose a revised 0.7% sequentially in the second quarter compared to the 1.4% growth reported in the preliminary estimate, data released by Statistics Sweden showed.

Spanish Home Prices Fall

The home price index in Spain slumped 14.4% annually in the second quarter compared to the 12.6% drop in the first quarter, data released by statistics office INE showed.

Prices of new homes fell 12.8% compared to the second quarter of 2011, while prices of second-hand houses declined 15.7%.

In another report, the leading economic index for Spain dropped 0.6% from a month ago to 101.8 in July, after rising 0.3% in June, data from a survey by the Conference Board showed.

Italian Surplus Increases

Italy''s current account surplus rose to €1.59 billion in July from €244 million in the same month a year earlier.

The goods trade account showed a surplus of €3.59 billion in July compared to the €2.17 billion surplus last year.