| Time | Country | Event | Period | Previous value | Forecast | Actual |
|---|
| 10:00 | Eurozone | Harmonized CPI ex EFAT, Y/Y | February | 5.3% | 5.3% | 5.6% |
| 10:00 | Eurozone | Harmonized CPI | February | -0.2% | | 0.8% |
| 10:00 | Eurozone | Harmonized CPI, Y/Y | February | 8.6% | 8.2% | 8.5% |
| 10:00 | Eurozone | Unemployment Rate | January | 6.7% | 6.6% | 6.7% |
GBP depreciated against other major currencies in the European session on Thursday as investors digested the outcomes of the Bank of England’s latest Decision Maker Panel (DMP), a survey of chief financial officers of the UK’s firms, which showed the British businesses eased further their expectations of price pressures in February.
According to the survey, firms now see output prices to grow by an average of 5.4% over the next year, down 0.4% from the previous month. Also, they expect the one-year ahead CPI inflation to be 5.9%, down from 6.4% in January. Meanwhile, expected year-ahead wage growth remained at 5.7% in February, signaling that the wage growth might be peaking.
Despite showing evidence of continuing easing in businesses’ expectations on price pressures, the DMP did not make the markets change their interest rate bets. They still see the BoE’s benchmark rate to be hiked by 25 basis points to 4.25% later this month and to peak at 4.75% in the second half of this year.