Posted on April 19, 2022 In Europe, the market is closely following the French election campaign between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen in the second round, which will take place this coming Sunday. The European markets resume their activity today after the Easter holiday, in a day where special attention will have to be paid to the new economic forecasts and the analysis of the International Monetary Fund on the current situation. After last week’s meeting, the European Central Bank kept interest rates at historic lows and reported that the asset purchase program (APP) will end between July and September, although the exact date will depend on economic forecasts of the institution, which will be published next June. The president of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, affirmed that the upward risks in inflation have increased in the short term and the economy of the Euro Zone has slowed down, also affected by the war in Ukraine. The inflation data from the European Union will be published next Thursday, where it is expected to confirm that a new historical maximum of 7.5% was reached, compared to 5.9% in February. Looking ahead, while we are not expected to have peaked in inflation yet, increases in the annual headline rate may temporarily halt for some time, particularly as government measures develop to reduce impact on prices. In any case, it is estimated that inflationary pressures are expected in the coming months, especially in the food and manufactured products sector. In the EU, regarding the PMI data, activity slows down, but does not collapse, since activity indicators are expected to fall in April, as the effects of the war between Russia and Ukraine materialize . Price pressures and supply chain disruption continue to be the main drivers of declines. PMIs are expected to be above 50, pointing to growth with the service sector the main beneficiary of the recovery as pandemic restrictions are eased. In the foreign exchange market, during yesterday’s Monday, the price of the EUR/USD pair remained in a range of 1.0769-1.0822 with little activity in the market due to the Easter Monday holiday, unlike the great volatility that was experienced last Thursday with the ECB press conference. The euro depreciated against the dollar to close the session at levels of 1.0780 and also depreciated against the British pound to levels of 0.8282, below the psychological level of 0.83. INFORMATIONTitleThe ECB affirms that the asset purchase program will end in the third quarter of the yearDescriptionIn Europe, the market is closely following the French electoral campaign that pits Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen against each other in the second round, which will take place this coming Sunday. Author GLOBALCAJA
The ECB affirms that the asset purchase program will end in the third quarter of the year
