Economies on both sides of the Atlantic had a robust end to the previous year with a higher-than-expected GDP growth rate. The Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy grew at a 2.9% annualized rate, while Preliminary Eurostat data released Tuesday showed that the eurozone grew at 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2022.
With economic resilience accompanied by moderating inflation in wages as well as prices of goods and services in both the U.S. and Europe, a slower interest rate hike by the Fed today should boost consumer and investor sentiment alike by making a ‘soft landing’ much more likely.
