Euro-area producer-price inflation slowed more than economists estimated in November as easing energy-cost growth offset higher prices for intermediate and capital goods. Factory-gate prices in the 17-nation euro region rose 2.1 percent from a year earlier after a 2.6 percent increase in October, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Economists had forecast an increase of 2.4 percent, the median of 13 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. From the prior month, prices fell 0.2 percent. Energy costs on the producer level rose an annual 4.1 percent in November after a 5.9 percent increase in the previous month, the statistics office said. Prices of intermediate goods rose 1.4 percent after a 1.2 percent increase in October, while capital goods were up 1 percent. In Germany, Europe’s largest economy, producer prices rose 1.4 percent from a year earlier, after increasing 1.5 percent in the previous month, today’s data showed. France reported a gain of 1.9 percent, with prices in Spain and Portugal increasing 2.8 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively. To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Henry in Brussels at phenry8@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net

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