Eurozone producer prices (PPI), a key measure of inflation at the wholesale level, fell in April as oil costs stabilised following the war in Iraq. Producer prices in the eurozone fell 0.4pc in April from March and were up 1.7pc year-on-year, EU statistics office Eurostat reported. Economists had forecast a month-on-month fall of 0.5pc and a year-on-year rise of 1.7pc. The energy sector accounted for the bulk of the fall in prices on the index with prices in the sector down 2.9pc.
Excluding energy, producer prices were up 0.1pc month-on-month. In April 2003, as compared to April 2002, energy rose by 3.4pc in the eurozone and 5.2pc in the EU-15 as a whole. Intermediate goods producer prices were up 0.1pc, capital goods up 0.1pc, durable consumer goods flat, and non-durable consumer goods up 0.1pc. In the EU as a whole, producer prices were down 0.4pc in April compared with March and were up 1.9pc year-on-year. //www.fxcentre.com