Follow EUR/USD, EUR To GBP And The Rest Of EUR Pairs - Inflation In Euro Area Continues To Worry Investors After Reaching New High

Today's Euro area inflation report continued to show the alarming rate of increase in prices mainly driven from energy prices and services. The euro area annual inflation rate was 7.4% in March 2022, up from 5.9% in February and noticeably higher than when compared to a year earlier (1.3%).

Stagflation scenario?

While we have already seen a slight change in tone from some members of the ECB, hinting at rate hikes sooner than previously expected, today's report could further incentivize the bank to act in an attempt to avoid the increasingly likely stagflation scenario. It will be important to keep an eye on today’s speech from the ECB head Lagarde after another member of the ECB , Kazaks, stated they believe asset purchases may be terminated before Q3 2022 - much earlier than it was expected.

Gold price returns to key support area ahead of central banker speeches

The price of gold has seen a noticeable pullback after reaching a high of $1958 yesterday while stock markets started the day trading higher following better than expected earnings from Tesla. The precious metal has once again returned to a previous support area of and could continue to see an increase in volatility as investors await today's comments from the heads of BoE and ECB. While the ECB appears to be changing its opinion slightly on the possibility of adjusting its fiscal and monetary policy to contend with record inflation, it remains to be seen how and if Lagarde will downplay the situation in order to calm the markets. In any case, gold might see a reaction to the $1945 area once again after the price managed to rebound several times in the past.

Walid Koudmani

Market Analyst working in UK-Italian-Arabic markets covering a broad range of assets including stocks, commodities, FX and crypto. English, Italian and Arabic Speaker with a B.A in Business Management. Quoted in many prestigious publications including the Guardian, Barrons and Lefigaro and winner of bloomberg top forecast rank Q-2/Q-3 2020.