Central banks everywhere were given pause for thought yesterday, when United States Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that US PPI (the Producer Price Index) had doubled in just one month, rising from 0.3% in January to 0.6% in February.

This morning, some European inflation figures were in, specifically for France. And recent history appears to be repeating itself in the continent’s second-biggest economy.

Inflation proves stickier

France’s inflation went up by 0.8% month-on-month in February, as expected. However, year-on-year, it edged down only slightly, from 3.1% in February 2023 to 3% last month.

Analysts had broadly expected inflation to fall by more, coming in at approximately 2.9% or 2.8%.

CPI up drastically

Also out this morning were CPI figures for France from INSEE (the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques) for February.

According to INSEE, CPI came back strongly last month, increasing 0.9% month-on-month for February, compared with January’s CPI of -0.2%.

Some good news

Despite the alarming CPI figures, there was also good news to be had from INSEE.

Food prices declined for the eleventh month in a row, after falling from +5.7% in January to +3.6% in February.

Unsurprisingly, then, core inflation was down too, with a reading of +2.7% in February 2024, after +3.0% in January.

Manufactured products were cheaper too, decreasing for the eighth month in row to 0.4% in February, after having been at +0.7% in January.

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