The euro surged past the $1.09 mark, reaching its strongest level since May 10, following the European Central Bank’s decision to raise interest rates for the eighth consecutive time and signal that future rate hikes were on the table. ECB President Lagarde expressed high confidence in the likelihood of further rate hikes in July, emphasizing that the central bank had no intentions of pausing, in contrast to the more cautious stance of the Federal Reserve. Alongside the interest rate hike, the ECB also upwardly revised its inflation projections while slightly lowering its economic growth forecasts. The core inflation rate, which excludes energy and food prices, is expected to peak at 5.1% in 2023 before gradually declining to 3.0% in 2024.
