Investing.com – Consumer price inflation (CPI) in the euro zone hit a two-and-a-half year high in November, in what would be a positive sign for the European Central Bank (ECB) ahead of its December 8 policy meeting, official preliminary data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, Eurostat said consumer price inflation rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.6% this month, in line with forecasts and following a final reading of a 0.5% advance in October. That was the biggest increase since April 2014.
Core CPI, which excludes food, energy, alcohol, and tobacco costs, increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.8% in November, matching expectations. Core inflation has been at this level for four consecutive months.
Despite the uptick in the headline number, inflation continues to remain far below the ECB’s 2% target despite unprecedented monetary stimulus.
The ECB will hold its next monetary policy meeting on December 8 and is widely expected to announce the extension of its asset purchase program which is currently scheduled to end in March 2017.
ECB president Mario Draghi has recently refused to give further hints on what policy moves the euro area central bank will make at the next meeting.
Both in testimony given yesterday to the European Parliament and in an interview given to the Spanish newspaper El País on Wednesday, Draghi insisted that “this is for the Governing Council to decide and it will do so on December 8.”
Draghi is scheduled to give a keynote speech at the 100th anniversary of the University of Deusto Business School in Madrid, Spain at 7:45AM ET (12:45GMT).
After the report, EUR/USD was unchanged at 1.0643, while EUR/GBP continued to exchange hands at 0.8523.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were trading higher. The Euro Stoxx 50 gained 0.27%, Germany's DAX advanced 0.13%, France’s CAC 40 traded up 0.24%, while London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.16%.