Lagarde speech: Eurozone growth supported by household spending, labour market

Ghiles Guezout FXStreet

In her introductory statement before the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said the Eurozone economy should gain support from improving household spending and a resilient labour market. She added that underlying inflation indicators remain aligned with the ECB’s 2% medium-term target and that inflation is expected to hover around this level in the coming months.

Key takeaways

“Growth in economic activity should benefit from increased household spending and a resilient and more inclusive labour market.”

“Indicators of underlying inflation remain consistent with our 2% medium-term target.”

“We expect inflation to stay around our 2% target in the coming months.”

“To respond flexibly to new challenges as they arise and will consider, as needed, new policy instruments in the pursuit of its price stability objective.”

Market reaction

EUR/USD remains firm following Lagarde’s remarks, gaining 0.30% on the day and trading around 1.1660 at the time of writing.

Economic Indicator

ECB's President Lagarde speech

The European Central Bank's President Christine Lagarde, born in 1956 in France, has formerly served as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, and minister of finance in France. She began her eight-year term at the helm of the ECB in November 2019. As part of her job in the Governing Council, Lagarde holds press conferences in detailing how the ECB observes the current and future state of the European economy. Her comments may positively or negatively the Euro's trend in the short term. Usually, a hawkish outlook boosts the Euro (bullish), while a dovish one weighs on the common currency (bearish).

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