German Producer Prices Rise Less Than Expected

(RTTNews) - Germany's producer prices rose for the fourth straight month in February, though at a slower-than-expected rate, data from Destatis showed on Thursday.

Producer prices climbed 0.7 percent on a yearly basis, following a 0.5 percent rise in January. The expected rate was 1.0 percent.

The main reason for the annual increase in producer prices in February was the price increase for capital goods, which grew 2.0 percent versus 1.9 percent in January.

Prices for consumer goods grew at a stable pace of 3.0 percent, while those for intermediate goods rebounded by 0.3 percent. Data showed that the decline in energy prices eased to 0.8 percent from 1.0 percent.

On a monthly basis, producer prices edged down 0.2 percent in February.

Excluding energy, producer prices gained 1.4 percent from the same period last year and by 0.3 percent from the previous month.