Eurozone Preliminary HICP inflation ticks down to 2.2% YoY in February as expected
The Eurozone Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) rose at an annual pace of 2.2% in March after increasing by 2.3% in February, the official data released by Eurostat showed Tuesday. The data matched the market forecast of 2.2% in the reported period.
The core HICP accelerated 2.4% year-over-year (YoY) in March, compared with a 2.6% growth in February, missing the 2.5% market estimate.
On a monthly basis, the bloc’s HICP advanced 0.6% in March compared to February’s 0.4%. The core HICP inflation jumped to 1% month-over-month (MoM) in the same period versus a 0.5% rise seen in February.
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 March (3.4%, compared with 3.7% in February), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (2.9%, compared with 2.7% in February), non-energy industrial goods (0.6%, stable compared with February) and energy (-0.7%, compared with 0.2% in February).
EUR/USD reaction to the Eurozone inflation report
The Euro holds gains after the inflation report, with EUR/USD trading near 1.0455 as of writing. The pair is up 0.11% 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 | -0.14% | -0.13% | -0.25% | -0.08% | -0.20% | -0.09% | -0.27% | |
| EUR | 0.14% | -0.05% | -0.13% | 0.03% | -0.12% | -0.00% | -0.18% | |
| GBP | 0.13% | 0.05% | -0.12% | 0.04% | -0.08% | 0.04% | -0.14% | |
| JPY | 0.25% | 0.13% | 0.12% | 0.18% | 0.06% | 0.16% | 0.00% | |
| CAD | 0.08% | -0.03% | -0.04% | -0.18% | -0.13% | -0.01% | -0.19% | |
| AUD | 0.20% | 0.12% | 0.08% | -0.06% | 0.13% | 0.12% | -0.06% | |
| NZD | 0.09% | 0.00% | -0.04% | -0.16% | 0.00% | -0.12% | -0.18% | |
| CHF | 0.27% | 0.18% | 0.14% | -0.00% | 0.19% | 0.06% | 0.18% |
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.
