Eurozone Inflation rises in December 2023
Here is the chart:
Prices in the year to December 2023 grew by 2.9% (up from 2.4% in the year to November 2023).
The problem seems to be in two big eurozone economies, France and Germany.
French CPI came in at 4.1%, and German CPI came in at 3.8%.
In both cases, energy costs were the issue; governments removed energy subsidies, so we are now seeing their "true" inflation.
Markets had been hoping inflation was defeated and that the European Central Bank would start cutting interest rates, but that is not going to happen.
The European Central Bank has made good progress on reversing QE. They've shed €1.94 trillion, taking their balance sheet to November 2020 levels (they're doing better than the US Federal Reserve which is only back to March 2021 levels). Inflation worldwide will only disappear when central bank balance sheets are at their pre pandemic levels.