Eurozone Preliminary HICP inflation eases to 2.8% YoY in January, as expected
The Eurozone Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) rose at an annual pace of 2.8% in January, a tad slower from December’s 2.9% increase, the official data published by Eurostat showed on Thursday. The data missed the market expectations of a 2.8% reading.
The Core HICP inflation declined to 3.3% YoY in January, as against December’s 3.4% print. The market consensus was for a 3.2% growth in the Core HICP.
On a monthly basis, the bloc’s HICP dropped 0.4% in January vs. a 0.2% increase seen in December. The core HICP inflation arrived at -0.9% MoM in the reported month, compared to a 0.5% increase seen previously.
The European Central Bank’s (ECB) inflation target is 2.0%. The old continent’s HICP inflation data significantly influences the market’s pricing of the ECB interest rate outlook.
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 January (5.7%, compared with 6.1% in December), followed by services (4.0%, stable compared with December), non-energy industrial goods (2.0%, compared with 2.5% in December) and energy (-6.3%, compared with -6.7% in December).”
Separately, the Eurozone Unemployment Rate for December held steady at 6.4%, as expected.
EUR/USD reaction to the Eurozone inflation report
The Euro is little changed on mixed Eurozone inflation data. EUR/USD is trading 0.17% lower on the day at 1.0798, at the press time.
Euro price today
The table below shows the percentage change of Euro (EUR) against listed major currencies today. Euro was the weakest against the Japanese Yen.
| USD | EUR | GBP | CAD | AUD | JPY | NZD | CHF | |
| USD | 0.04% | 0.16% | 0.08% | 0.54% | -0.11% | 0.32% | 0.06% | |
| EUR | -0.03% | 0.12% | 0.02% | 0.51% | -0.12% | 0.29% | 0.03% | |
| GBP | -0.15% | -0.11% | -0.10% | 0.39% | -0.23% | 0.16% | -0.10% | |
| CAD | -0.09% | -0.02% | 0.10% | 0.49% | -0.14% | 0.27% | 0.02% | |
| AUD | -0.54% | -0.50% | -0.38% | -0.48% | -0.61% | -0.22% | -0.44% | |
| JPY | 0.10% | 0.13% | 0.24% | 0.12% | 0.63% | 0.39% | 0.14% | |
| NZD | -0.32% | -0.25% | -0.15% | -0.23% | 0.22% | -0.42% | -0.25% | |
| CHF | -0.06% | -0.02% | 0.10% | 0.02% | 0.46% | -0.17% | 0.25% |
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 Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent EUR (base)/JPY (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.
