Investing.com - Consumer price inflation in Germany slowed unexpectedly in February, fuelling fears over the risk of deflation in the euro area, official preliminary data showed on Thursday.
In a report, the German Federal Statistics Bureau said consumer price inflation accelerated at an annualized rate of 1.2% this month, down from 1.3% in January. Analysts had expected German consumer prices to remain unchanged at 1.3% in February.
Month-over-month, German consumer prices rose 0.5% this month, below forecasts for a gain of 0.6%, after falling 0.6% in the preceding month.
Following the release of the data, the euro was lower against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD shedding 0.23% to trade at 1.3655.
Meanwhile, European stock markets held on to losses. Germany's DAX slumped 1.3%, the EURO STOXX 50 fell 1.2%, France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.55%, while London’s FTSE 100 declined 0.45%.