BREAKING: EUR gains after euro area CPI reading

Flash CPI inflation data for February from euro area was released today at 10:00 am GMT. Report was expected to show a deceleration in headline as well as core price growth measures. However, as flash data from major euro area economies was already released earlier this week, today's print was not expected to trigger any major market moves.

However, actual report showed smaller-than-expected deceleration in both measures, with headline inflation slowing from 2.8 to 2.6% and core inflation slowing from 3.3 to 3.1% YoY. This was quite a noticeable miss, especially in case of core CPI and triggered an uptick on EUR market, as well as a dip on European equities. Nevertheless, scale of moves was limited.

Euro area, CPI inflation for February

• Headline: 2.6% YoY vs 2.5% YoY expected (2.8% YoY previously)
• Core: 3.1% YoY vs 2.9% YoY expected (3.3% YoY previously)

EURUSD jumped following higher-than-expected CPI data from euro area. The pair briefly traded at a fresh daily high. Source: xStation5