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A Christmas market in Cottbus, Germany. <\/p>\n
Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Euro zone inflation stood at 2.2% in November, marking a slight rise from the previous month, flash data from data agency Eurostat showed Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The latest consumer price index reading is just a shade above the European Central Bank’s 2% target. Economists polled by Reuters expected a reading of 2.1% for the twelve months to November.<\/p>\n
Looking at the main components of\u00a0euro area\u00a0inflation,\u00a0services is expected to have the highest annual rate in November, at 3.5% compared with 3.4% in October, Eurostat said<\/a>. <\/p>\n Core inflation, which excludes more volatile energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices, was at 2.4% in November, unchanged from the previous month. <\/p>\n The ECB held its key deposit facility\u00a0rate at 2% for the third consecutive time in late October, having last cut rates in June. <\/p>\n The trim, which coincided with\u00a0euro zone inflation hitting the ECB’s target rate of 2%<\/a>, was part of a rate-cutting cycle that has brought rates down from last year’s\u00a0record\u00a0high\u00a0of 4%<\/a>.<\/p>\n Top ECB board members have told CNBC in recent months that\u00a0the easing cycle is close to, or at its end<\/a> although the central bank has repeatedly said it will take a meeting-by-meeting and data dependent approach to rate setting.<\/p>\n After the October trim, ECB President Christine Lagarde\u00a0told CNBC that from a monetary policy point of view, the economy is in a good place<\/a>. <\/p>\n