PRICES AND WAGES

PRICES AND WAGES American producer-price inflation rose to 3.1% in the year to November; Britain's increased to 2.1%. In the United States, consumer-price inflation in November reached its highest annual rate since December 1996. It edged up to 1.4% in Britain in the year to November and to 2.2% in the Netherlands. It was unchanged in Sweden at 0.8%.