- Howard Archer from IHS Economics
Spain continued to surprise markets and analysts, by posting positive fundamentals. Following Monday's better than expected manufacturing PMI data, the Ministry of Employment and Social Security reported on Tuesday that joblessness in the country dropped in November. The number of registered workers without a job fell by 14,688 in the month under review, with the total number of unemployed reaching 4,512,116 in November. Spain's unemployment rate remained at an unhealthy elevated level, despite falling in the third quarter to 23.67% from 24.5% in the previous three-month period. Meanwhile, Euro zone's producer prices plunged at the fastest monthly pace in a year in October, as energy costs and prices of non-durable goods fell sharply, increasing pressure on the European Central Bank to step up extra measures to extricate the currency bloc from the economic quagmire. Prices at factory gates in the Euro area dropped by 0.4% from September, the Eurostat said. October's decline in producer prices adds up to the Euro zone's wider problem with deflationary pressures. The last time factory prices rose was in June and September this year. On an annual basis, prices plunged 1.3% in October, meeting market expectations and a slightly lower pace than the 1.4% decline recorded in both August and September. The Euro zone's preliminary CPI was 0.3% in November on an annual basis, a notch down from the October's reading of 0.4%.
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