ECB’s Lagarde warns inflation risks persist as energy and AI trends diverge
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde crossed the wires on Thursday and said that “the current situation is made hard by the energy shock and AI pulling in opposite directions.”
Lagarde said that it is “Still necessary to apply tools to avoid inflation running away,” and doesn’t expect “US tariffs to be revisited right away.”
Key highlights:
The current situation is made hard by the energy shock and AI pulling in opposite directions.
Very difficult to disentangle supply-driven and demand-driven shocks.
Still necessary to apply tools to avoid inflation running away.
We will have many indicators between now and December.
Don't expect US tariffs to be revisited right away.
Euro Price Today
The table below shows the percentage change of Euro (EUR) against listed major currencies today. Euro was the strongest against the Australian Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | 0.11% | 0.06% | -0.33% | 0.28% | 0.84% | 0.35% | -0.17% | |
| EUR | -0.11% | -0.05% | -0.48% | 0.17% | 0.73% | 0.23% | -0.29% | |
| GBP | -0.06% | 0.05% | -0.40% | 0.22% | 0.78% | 0.29% | -0.23% | |
| JPY | 0.33% | 0.48% | 0.40% | 0.62% | 1.19% | 0.66% | 0.17% | |
| CAD | -0.28% | -0.17% | -0.22% | -0.62% | 0.57% | 0.05% | -0.45% | |
| AUD | -0.84% | -0.73% | -0.78% | -1.19% | -0.57% | -0.48% | -1.01% | |
| NZD | -0.35% | -0.23% | -0.29% | -0.66% | -0.05% | 0.48% | -0.49% | |
| CHF | 0.17% | 0.29% | 0.23% | -0.17% | 0.45% | 1.01% | 0.49% |
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).
ECB FAQs
The European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt, Germany, is the reserve bank for the Eurozone. The ECB sets interest rates and manages monetary policy for the region. The ECB primary mandate is to maintain price stability, which means keeping inflation at around 2%. Its primary tool for achieving this is by raising or lowering interest rates. Relatively high interest rates will usually result in a stronger Euro and vice versa. The ECB Governing Council makes monetary policy decisions at meetings held eight times a year. Decisions are made by heads of the Eurozone national banks and six permanent members, including the President of the ECB, Christine Lagarde.
In extreme situations, the European Central Bank can enact a policy tool called Quantitative Easing. QE is the process by which the ECB prints Euros and uses them to buy assets – usually government or corporate bonds – from banks and other financial institutions. QE usually results in a weaker Euro. QE is a last resort when simply lowering interest rates is unlikely to achieve the objective of price stability. The ECB used it during the Great Financial Crisis in 2009-11, in 2015 when inflation remained stubbornly low, as well as during the covid pandemic.
Quantitative tightening (QT) is the reverse of QE. It is undertaken after QE when an economic recovery is underway and inflation starts rising. Whilst in QE the European Central Bank (ECB) purchases government and corporate bonds from financial institutions to provide them with liquidity, in QT the ECB stops buying more bonds, and stops reinvesting the principal maturing on the bonds it already holds. It is usually positive (or bullish) for the Euro.
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