EU factory prices fall

Bloomberg

Factory-gate prices in the 16-nation euro region fell 3.1 percent from a year earlier, after a 1.7 percent drop in February, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said yesterday. That was the biggest decline since February 1987 and steeper than the 2.9 percent drop economists forecast, according to the median of 13 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.

European firms are lowering prices and cutting jobs to weather the worst economic slump since World War II just as plunging energy costs are pushing the 16-member euro region closer to deflation. The ECB may cut its key interest rate to a record low this week.