Inflation in the Euro Area fell more than expected according to the Consumer Price Index from the statistical office of the European Union.
- Y-O-Y: Euro area annual inflation slowed to 6.9% in March, down from 8.5% in February and the lowest level since February 2022. Economists had projected a smaller drop to 7.1%.
- M-O-M: Prices rose 0.9% in March, higher than February’s 0.8% increase and the highest increase in the last 5 months.
Contributing Factors. Food, alcohol & tobacco is expected to have the highest
annual rate in March at 15.4%, up from 15.0% in February. Non-energy industrial good prices take the second spot with 6.6% growth followed by services (5.0%) and energy (-0.9%).
Market Reaction. Markets across Europe were in the green with France’s CAC leading the way up 38 points, or 0.53%, while Germany’s DAX and London’s FTSE were up 0.41% and 0.24%, respectively.
USA. In the US, market futures are mostly as we await our own inflation report. Dow futures are up 72 points, or 0.22%, while S&P futures were up 0.16%. Unfortunately, Nasdaq futures were in the red, but just barely, down just 0.05%.
- The 10-year was mostly unchanged at 3.56% and oil was up slightly to $74.
ASIA. Asian markets all ended the day in the green with Japan’s Nikkei leading the pack with a 258 points jump, or 0.93%, followed by the Hang Seng and Shanghai indices up 0.45% and 0.36%, respectively.