Financial Markets Daily Report03 March 2023
Precaution and volatility continued to set the tone across financial markets on Thursday. Eurozone HICP inflation surprised on the upside (headline: 8.5% y/y in February after 8.6%; core: 5.6% after 5.3%) while, in the US, data showed unit labour cost accelerated in Q4 and new weekly jobless claims fell further last week.
- Precaution and volatility continued to set the tone across financial markets on Thursday. Eurozone HICP inflation surprised on the upside (headline: 8.5% y/y in February after 8.6%; core: 5.6% after 5.3%) while, in the US, data showed unit labour cost accelerated in Q4 and new weekly jobless claims fell further last week.
- In the eurozone, ECB President, Christine Lagarde, reiterated that interest rate increases may need to persist beyond March, adding that the pace would be decided at a later stage. Separately, GC member Isabel Schnabel said shrinking the ECB balance sheet is “prudent”, noting that the large stock of assets may undermine the fight against inflation.
- In this context, sovereign bond yields continued to march higher while the EUR remained broadly unchanged, trading around 1.06 against the USD. Stock indices were mixed, recording modest gains in Europe and the US but edging lower across emerging markets. Natural gas prices in Europe continued to trade below 50€/MWh.