The Russia-Ukraine conflict has kicked things into overdrive in Europe this year and the economic landscape remains rather dire when you look at how things are developing at the moment. Parity beckons for EUR/USD and we've already seen EUR/CHF tumble below 1.00 after the SNB policy pivot last month. It's tough to find much relief for the euro and here are reasons why.
1. Inflation pressures are still surging across the region
Sure, German inflation may have seen a bit of a moderation in June but near 8% inflation is still extremely high with Spanish inflation even surpassing 10% last month. As mentioned before, there is a difference between inflation peaking and inflation hitting a plateau.
The latter seems likely for most parts of the world dealing with surging price pressures and Europe is no different. The fact that oil prices and natural gas prices are set to remain elevated going into winter will only exacerbate the pain.
2. A recession beckons
The key question now will be how bad will the recession in Europe look like. As inflation takes a toll on consumption and surging price pressures grip business activity, it is looking bleak once we get past the summer sunshine. There is no easy fix and if Russia seeks to restrict supply of gas to Europe, I fear that it will shape up to be a rather harsh recession - particularly in the latter stages of the year.
3. Fragmentation risks on the cards
The ECB may be able to deal with this with their "resolve" but at the end of the day, they need some solution to get the monkey off their back. I doubt policymakers will be helpless in letting a debt crisis spiral but they will lose some face in trying to convince markets that they can raise interest rates while ridding themselves of some form of easy policy - which have been a mainstay over the past decade.
QE but not QE seems to be what they will go with but we will see how things play out in practice.
4. The ECB suddenly looks behind the curve again
For all the talk by ECB policymakers on tightening policy, they are still yet to officially raise interest rates amid the whole inflation debate globally. As other major central banks step up their game, the ECB's plan to raise rates by 25 bps this month and then 50 bps in September suddenly looks rather 'lame'.
The new meta this week suggests that 100 bps is the next hot pick and the ECB is once again being left behind. As markets rush to price in a more aggressive Fed and more frontloading by other major central banks, the ECB's lack of flexibility is not helping the euro's plight considering that they are not able to come together for a more aggressive tightening push.