Market News

According to Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union (EU), the bloc's annual inflation rate came in at 2.1% again in November, below an earlier forecast of 2.2%. The rate of price increases was slightly below the 2.2% seen a year ago and

Core inflation, which strips out volatile energy and food prices and is closely watched by analysts, was confirmed at 2.4% on an annual basis, also unchanged from October.

Meanwhile, annual inflation for the wider European Union slipped slightly to 2.4% in November, down from 2.5% in October and a year earlier.

The lowest annual rates were registered in Cyprus (0.1%), France (0.8%) and Italy (1.1%) while the highest were recorded in Romania (8.6%), Estonia (4.7%) and Croatia (4.3%).

On a monthly basis, annual inflation fell in 12 member states, remained stable in five and rose in 10.

In November, the highest contribution to the annual euro area inflation rate came from services ( up 1.58 percentage points), followed by food, alcohol and tobacco (+0.46 pp), non-energy industrial goods (+0.14 pp) and energy (-0.04 pp).

The figures mean European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers are likely to keep interest rates steady at 2% when they hold their next meeting on Thursday.

After a year-long series of cuts, the central bank for the 20 countries that use the euro has kept its key deposit rate at 2% since July.

Eurozone inflation has eased dramatically from a record 10.6% in October 2022, which was fuelled by soaring energy costs triggered by the Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, German business confidence unexpectedly slipped in December, with an index from the Munich-based Ifo Institute down to 87.6 points from 88 points in November. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast an increase to 88.2.

The manufacturing index fell, with almost all sectors affected. The number of new orders declined, and the survey showed companies are planning to scale back production.