Eurozone Preliminary HICP inflation eases to 2.4% YoY in February vs. 2.3% expected
The Eurozone Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) rose 2.4% year-on-year (YoY) in February after recording a 2.5% growth in January, the official data released by Eurostat showed Monday. The market forecast was for a 2.3% acceleration in the reported period.
The core HICP advanced 2.6% YoY in February, compared with a 2.7% increase in January, meeting the 2.6% market expectations.
On a monthly basis, the bloc’s HICP rose 0.5% in February compared to January’s -0.3%. The core HICP inflation came in at 0.6% month-over-month (MoM) in the same period versus a 0.9% decline in January.
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.
Key details from the Eurozone inflation report (via Eurostat)
Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, services is expected to have the highest annual rate in February (3.7%, compared with 3.9% in January), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (2.7%, compared with 2.3% in January), non-energy industrial goods (0.6%, compared with 0.5% in January) and energy (0.2%, compared with 1.9% in January).
EUR/USD reaction to the Eurozone inflation report
The Euro extends gains after the inflation report, with EUR/USD trading near 1.0435 as of writing. The pair is up 0.60% on the day.
Euro PRICE Today
The table below shows the percentage change of Euro (EUR) against listed major currencies today. Euro was the strongest against the US Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | -0.58% | -0.47% | -0.09% | -0.15% | -0.30% | -0.20% | -0.27% | |
| EUR | 0.58% | 0.00% | 0.28% | 0.25% | 0.19% | 0.20% | 0.13% | |
| GBP | 0.47% | -0.01% | 0.36% | 0.25% | 0.18% | 0.19% | 0.12% | |
| JPY | 0.09% | -0.28% | -0.36% | 0.17% | -0.15% | -0.05% | -0.18% | |
| CAD | 0.15% | -0.25% | -0.25% | -0.17% | 0.00% | -0.05% | -0.11% | |
| AUD | 0.30% | -0.19% | -0.18% | 0.15% | 0.00% | 0.00% | -0.06% | |
| NZD | 0.20% | -0.20% | -0.19% | 0.05% | 0.05% | -0.00% | -0.07% | |
| CHF | 0.27% | -0.13% | -0.12% | 0.18% | 0.11% | 0.06% | 0.07% |
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.
