European stock markets continued to rise on Wednesday after the data confirmed that the inflation rally continued unabated in December in the US.
Data released today by the US Department of Labor showed the largest annual increase in inflation since 1982. In particular, the consumer price index climbed to 7% in December after rising in November by 6.8%, while on a monthly basis it increased by 0.5%, exceeding analysts’ estimates.
Analysts’ average estimates in a Reuters poll showed a monthly rise of 0.4% of the index, with annual inflation jumping to 7.0%.
The data on inflation come in the wake of yesterday’s statements by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that the central bank will use all the tools at its disposal to prevent inflation “from consolidating”.
“We know that high inflation has a serious impact,” Powell said, adding that if inflation persists for longer than expected, the Fed should raise interest rates further.
Analysts no longer rule out the possibility that the US Federal Reserve will raise four interest rates this year.
On the board, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index is up 0.6% at 486.06 points.
The German DAX is up 0.5% at 16,028.62 points, the French CAC 40 is up 0.6% at 7,229.44 points, while the British FTSE 100 is up 0.8% at 7,551.32 points.
In the periphery, the Italian FTSE MIB and the Spanish IBEX 35 gain 0.2%.
In business developments, the UniCredit title plunges 3.8% in the wake of reports that the second largest Italian bank is among those interested in the Russian Otkritie Bank.
Philips’s title also suffered heavy losses of 15% after the company warned that sales would lose estimates due to shortages in supply chains.
At the end of the day, data released today by Eurostat showed that the industrial production of the Eurozone fell on an annual basis in November, refuting the estimates of analysts who expected it to strengthen.
In particular, industrial production increased by 2.3% on a monthly basis but fell by 1.5% on an annual basis. Economists expected an increase of 0.5% from October and 0.6% from the same period last year.
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