Bitcoin fell 9.42% from May 5 to May 12 to trade at US$26,365 as of 7:30 p.m. on Friday in Hong Kong. The world’s...

Inflation came lower than expected in Europe according to a flash estimate released earlier today by Eurostat. Inflation is expected to be 6.9% for...

How aggressively will central banks raise rates? It’s been an incredible couple of weeks in the markets, one in which we’ve seen another hawkish move from multiple central banks, big swings in stocks on the back of earnings, and tensions around Ukraine intensify. The result has been very volatile markets and while the coming week […]

According to preliminary Eurostat estimates cited by Trading Economics, annual inflation in the eurozone surged for the sixth straight month in December to a record high of 5 percent. Inflation last dipped in June, when it dropped to 1.9 percent from 2 percent in May.  “We view these figures with some concern, as they are higher than we initially expected,” Isabel Schnabel, member of the Executive Board of the ECB, commented in a recent interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung. The official also acknowledged that many individuals in Europe are concerned about the decline in real salaries and interest income. Nonetheless, Schnabel made it plain that the European Central Bank is not yet ready to hike interest rates in the eurozone, citing estimates that the global pandemic’s price spike will be followed by a ‘marked decrease.’ The banker also indicated that the ECB should avoid suffocating the recovery, saying: “In our predictions, medium-term inflation will even fall below our objective of 2 percent, even if we accept that the projections are currently subject to great uncertainty.” European Central Bank to Act if Inflation Settles Above 2% The ECB executive body’s spokesman also stated that the euro zone’s central bank ‘would act promptly and aggressively if we determine that inflation may stabilize over 2 percent.’ She stated that ending net asset purchases is a prerequisite for raising rates. The decision by the ECB’s Governing Council in December to progressively cut them over the next quarters, according to Schnabel, is the first move in that direction. The Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program is expected to be phased out by the end of March 2022. The official denied claims that the ECB’s silence reflected its fears that the euro debt crisis could resurface if interest rates are raised, particularly in countries like Italy.  “Our actions are guided solely by our price stability mandate. Public borrowing by individual countries has no bearing on the Governing Council’s decisions,” she insisted. The findings from Eurostat and Schnabel’s statements come as other major nations experience rising prices as a result of steps taken to deal with the economic consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak. The consumer price index jumped to 7 percent last month, according to data released by the US Labor Department on Wednesday. This is the most significant annual growth in the last four decades.

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The European Central Bank is concerned over inflation in the euro area rising beyond its own expectations, a high-ranking ECB official has admitted. However, Europe’s monetary authority is not prepared to raise interest rates at this point in time, the executive unveiled. ECB Sees No Reason to Adjust Interest Rates Despite Eurozone Inflation Reaching 5% […]