Europe Producer-Price Inflation Slows as Energy Increases Ease

European producer-price inflation weakened in August as energy-cost increases eased on slower economic growth amid the sovereign-debt crisis.

Factory-gate prices in the 17-nation euro region rose 5.9 percent from a year earlier after a 6.1 percent increase in July, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Economists had projected a gain of 5.8 percent, according to the median of 19 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. August producer prices declined 0.1 percent from July, when they gained 0.5 percent on the month.