German October harmonised CPI jumps past forecasts

The cost of living in Germany jumped past forecasts unexpectedly in October.

According to preliminary figures from the Federal Office of Statistics, the country's harmonised Consumer Price Index increased at a month-on-month pace of 1.7%.

That served to push the annual rate of gain to 11.6% (consensus: 10.9%).

In annual terms, the rate of energy inflation slipped a touch, from 43.9% for September to 43.0% in October.

Food prices on the other hand rose at a year-on-year pace of 20.3%, up from 18.7% in the month before.

Goods price inflation meanwhile picked up from 17.2% to 17.8%.

At the core level, Claus Vistesen, chief Eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, estimated that the rate of non-harmonised CPI edged up from 4.6% to 4.7%.

"Coupled with the rise in French and Italian inflation—data released earlier today—the increase in Germany defies our earlier assumption that EZ inflation peaked in September," Vistesen said.

"While this doesn’t fully rule out a pivot to smaller rate hikes by the ECB from December, it will surely be disappointing for ECB doves."