Eurozone Preliminary HICP inflation eases to 1.9% YoY in May vs. 2% expected
The Eurozone Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) rose at an annual pace of 1.9% in May after increasing by 2.2% in April, the official data released by Eurostat showed Tuesday.
Markets estimated a 2% reading in the reported period.
The core HICP advanced 2.3% year-over-year (YoY) in May against a 2.7% growth in April, missing the 2.5% forecast.
On a monthly basis, the bloc’s HICP showed no growth in May, compared with April’s 0.6%. The core HICP inflation came in at 0% month-over-month (MoM) in the same period, following an increase of 1% in April.
The European Central Bank’s (ECB) inflation target is 2.0%. The old continent’s HICP inflation data significantly impacts the market’s pricing of the ECB's future interest rate cuts.
Meanwhile, the bloc’s Unemployment Rate ticked down to 6.2% in April from March’s revised 6.3%.
Key details from the Eurozone inflation report (via Eurostat)
Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, food, alcohol & tobacco is expected to have the highest annual rate in May (3.3%, compared with 3.0% in April), followed by services (3.2%, compared with 4.0% in April), non-energy industrial goods (0.6%, stable compared with April) and energy (-3.6%, stable compared with April).
EUR/USD reaction to the Eurozone inflation report
The Euro faces fresh supply after the softer inflation report, with EUR/USD trading near 1.1400 as of writing. The pair is down 0.35% on the day.
Euro PRICE Today
The table below shows the percentage change of Euro (EUR) against listed major currencies today. Euro was the weakest against the US Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | 0.36% | 0.24% | 0.11% | 0.13% | 0.63% | 0.57% | 0.22% | |
| EUR | -0.36% | -0.09% | -0.23% | -0.22% | 0.27% | 0.29% | -0.13% | |
| GBP | -0.24% | 0.09% | -0.14% | -0.13% | 0.36% | 0.37% | -0.04% | |
| JPY | -0.11% | 0.23% | 0.14% | 0.01% | 0.48% | 0.46% | 0.16% | |
| CAD | -0.13% | 0.22% | 0.13% | -0.01% | 0.44% | 0.50% | 0.08% | |
| AUD | -0.63% | -0.27% | -0.36% | -0.48% | -0.44% | 0.01% | -0.40% | |
| NZD | -0.57% | -0.29% | -0.37% | -0.46% | -0.50% | -0.01% | -0.41% | |
| CHF | -0.22% | 0.13% | 0.04% | -0.16% | -0.08% | 0.40% | 0.41% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Euro from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent EUR (base)/USD (quote).
Author
Dhwani Mehta
FXStreet
Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.
