Central Banks

Spanish Inflation Unexpectedly Quickens Further Beyond 2%

Shoppers at a market in Barcelona.

Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg

Spanish inflation unexpectedly accelerated further beyond the European Central Bank’s 2% target, supporting market expectations that interest rates will be raised this year due to the Iran war.

Consumer prices rose 3.5% from a year earlier in April, data Wednesday showed. That’s faster than March’s 3.4% advance and above the unchanged reading that economists in a Bloomberg survey had estimated.