Eurozone Inflation Accelerates; Jobless Rate Steady At 6.3%

(RTTNews) - Eurozone inflation accelerated more than expected in October on food and energy prices but it remained within the target of the European Central Bank, bolstering the case for a gradual monetary policy easing.

Another official data showed that the euro area unemployment rate remained unchanged at a record low in September.

The harmonized index of consumer prices posted an annual growth of 2.0 percent, the flash estimate from Eurostat showed. Inflation was forecast to rise to 1.9 percent from 1.7 percent in September.

Core inflation that excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, remained unchanged at 2.7 percent in October. The rate was seen at 2.6 percent.

Food, alcohol and tobacco prices reported a faster growth of 2.9 percent and the fall in energy prices slowed to 4.6 percent from 6.1 percent.

Non-energy industrial goods prices moved up 0.5 percent after a 0.4 percent gain and services inflation held steady at 3.9 percent.

The harmonized index of consumer prices gained 0.3 percent in October from the previous month. Final data is due on November 19.

At the October meeting, the ECB had cut its key interest rates by 25 basis points as policymakers assessed that the disinflation process is on track. The bank had reduced rates by the same volume in September.

Although it may be a close call, the ECB is likely to conclude in December that policy need not be restrictive for much longer and that a 50 basis point would be appropriate, Capital Economics' economist Andrew Kenningham said.

ING economist Bert Colijn said the direction of incoming data in the region is not quite clear, which provides the ECB with confusing signals for the path of rate cuts.

Among big four economies, Germany posted the highest inflation in October. Inflation in Germany climbed to 2.4 percent from 1.8 percent and that in France edged up to 1.5 percent from 1.4 percent.

Spain's inflation came in at 1.8 percent, up from 1.7 percent a month ago. Italy's inflation climbed to 1.0 percent from 0.7 percent in the previous month. The jobless rate in the euro area came in at 6.3 percent in September, unchanged from August, Eurostat reported.

The number of people out of work increased 13,000 from the previous month to 10.88 million. Compared to last year, unemployment decreased 330,000.

The youth unemployment rate edged up to 14.4 percent from 14.3 percent in the previous month.