We have the final eurozone HICP number for April on Thursday and in between we have a raft of member states reporting their numbers, both in the EZ and EU. Today we’ve had a few and here is the rundown;
All y/y numbers
- Hungary -0.1% vs +0.1% in March
- Sweden 0.0% vs -0.6% in March
- Bulgaria -1.6% vs -2.3% in March
- Italy HICP (final) 0.5% vs 0.3% in March (flash 0.6%)
- Portugal HICP -0.1% vs -0.4% prior. CPI -0.1% vs -0.4% prior
A few signs that falling inflation may be slowing and even reversing. Obviously this is just a small snapshot and we’ve got German and French numbers tomorrow. The question will be how much does the ECB want to see inflation rising to stop them releasing the hounds? The market may see any higher numbers as a reason for them to hold off but the ECB may think differently if the projections say otherwise.
