Global Market: Euro zone inflation risks persist despite oil price retreat, ECB's Schnabel warns

ECB executive board member Isabel Schnabel warned that eurozone inflation risks persist despite the recent retreat in crude oil prices, citing natural gas prices remaining around 40 percent above pre-war levels and elevated refining margins. She flagged ongoing pipeline price pressures, supply chain constraints, and weather-related risks from the European heat wave and Super El Nino pattern as factors that could keep consumer prices elevated. Financial markets have grown sceptical of another ECB rate hike at the July 22-23 meeting, though Belgian central bank governor Pierre Wunsch cautioned against waiting too long if one final increase is intended.