Euro-Area Inflation Unexpectedly Slowed in January on Energy

The euro-area inflation rate unexpectedly fell in January as high unemployment and austerity measures across the 17-nation currency bloc damped demand.

The annual inflation rate dropped to 2 percent from 2.2 percent a month earlier, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Economists had forecast the rate to remain unchanged, according to the median of 39 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.