Eurostat’s flash estimate, annual HICP inflation had stood at 2.1% in September 2018, up from 2.0% in August, while HICP inflation excluding energy and food had remained stable at 0.9%. Overall, recent data were slightly higher than expected for headline inflation and wage growth, and slightly lower for services inflation. Meanwhile, measures of underlying inflation had moved sideways. Higher wage growth, as well as a recovery in producer and import prices, was expected to continue to support the upward adjustment in underlying inflation.

The results of the ECB Survey of Professional Forecasters for the fourth quarter of 2018 had shown average inflation expectations of 1.7% for 2018 and 2019, unchanged from the previous quarter