The inflation for the Euro Area was at 1.4% in January after 1.6% in December.
The main reason for this drop is the negative impact of the oil price. The energy contribution to the inflation rate was 1% in October and just 0.25% in January. This will continue and the contribution will become negative during the first quarter of this year. This reflects that the oil price is currently lower than in 2018 and this will continue allover the year. As the core inflation rate is circa 1%, the headline inflation rate will close but below 1% in 2019.
Except in the US, the mood perceived through all the Markit surveys is negative. In the Euro Area the index is just above 50 at 50.5 but the German index, its main engine, is now in the contracting zone. Japan is converging rapidly to 50. This US will not have the possibility to pull up the global activity. Its momentum is not strong enough. Moreover, this US index has also to be interpreted with the Fed new monetary policy framework. The US central bank has stopped its monetary policy normalization at its January meeting and I can’t imagine that it’s mainly linked with external downgrades. It would be the first time ever that the Fed makes a change in its monetary policy orientation on external elements. I can’t believe that the Fed change is not dependent mainly on the US outlook.
