The annual rate of inflation in France picked up last month, according to preliminary data from the statistics office Insee French consumer prices were unchanged in November from October but were up 2.2pc on a year-on-year basis. That compares to a 1.9pc annual increase the previous month The statistics office said a decline in oil prices in the month contributed to the unchanged monthly reading; excluding oil prices, the consumer price index rose 0.1pc in November Meanwhile, Germany's federal statistics office reported this morning that wholesale prices fell by 0.8pc in November from October, but were up 1.1pc from a year earlier
This is the highest year-on-year increase of the index of prices in wholesale trade since August 2001, when prices jumped 1.5pc. Stripped of oil products, wholesale prices in November fell 0.1pc from October and were up 0.6pc year-on-year, the office said. Other figures from Germany revealed that its trade surplus widened in October to E11.1bn from E9.7bn a year earlier, as export growth outpaced growth in imports. Exports rose 2.4pc in October 2002 from the previous year, while imports eased 0.1pc, the statistics office said //www.fxcentre.com