Euro area annual inflation climbed to 3% in April 2026, the highest since September 2023, up from 2.6% in March and slightly above market expectations of 2.9%, according to a preliminary estimate. Energy costs soared 10.9%, the most since February 2023, driven by the Middle East conflict. Also, prices rose faster for non-energy industrial goods (0.8% vs 0.5%), and food, alcohol, and tobacco (2.5% vs 2.4%). On the other hand, services inflation slowed to 3.0%, from 3.2%. The core rate, excluding volatile energy, also cooled to 2.2% from 2.3%. Among the Eurozone’s largest economies, inflation accelerated in Germany (2.9% vs 2.8%), France (2.5% vs 2%), Italy (2.9% vs 1.6%) and Spain (3.5% vs 2.4%).