The number of jobless in Germany rose for the first time in three months in October, according to the Federal Statistics Office The jobless total in Europe's largest economy rose a seasonally adjusted 22,000 last month. Economists had forecast an increase of 12,000 and the rise puts the seasonally adjusted jobless rate at 9.9pc, up from 9.8pc in September The rise in unemployment comes just hours before the European Central Bank announces its latest decision on interest rates. Despite the growing calls for a reduction in borrowing costs and the Federal Reserve's half point cut overnight, the ECB is not expected to take any action until at least next month
Germany's respected DIW research institute this morning said the ECB should cut interest rates by 0.75pc points at its governing council meeting today, to give a much needed boost to the euro zone economy. "The economy could take this kind of boost, not just in Germany but in the whole eurozone," Gustav Adolf Horn, chief economist at the DIW, told the Berliner Zeitung. Earlier, the Federal Statistics Office reported that consumer prices in Germany were unchanged in October from September and were up 1.3pc year-on-year. //www.fxcentre.com