{"text":[[{"start":8.35,"text":"Eurozone inflation fell more than expected to 2.8 per cent in June, boosting the European Central Bank’s attempts to bear down on price pressures unleashed by the Iran war."}],[{"start":19.299999999999997,"text":"Wednesday’s estimate from Eurostat was below the 3 per cent forecast by economists in a Reuters poll and May’s 3.2 per cent figure."}],[{"start":29.449999999999996,"text":"The ECB last month raised interest rates by a quarter point to 2.25 per cent, its first increase in borrowing costs since 2023, in a bid to contain inflationary pressures."}],[{"start":41.39999999999999,"text":"Oil prices have returned to prewar levels in recent days after the US and Iran agreed a deal to extend their ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz."}],[{"start":52.099999999999994,"text":"Economists at Morgan Stanley noted that the steeper-than-expected drop in June suggested that the surge in energy prices had had a “limited” impact on price pressures across the Eurozone economy."}],[{"start":63.099999999999994,"text":"Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was 2.4 per cent in June, down from 2.6 per cent in May and below the 2.5 per cent expected by economists."}],[{"start":75.3,"text":"Services inflation, closely watched as a gauge of price pressures, dipped to 3.2 per cent in June from 3.5 per cent in May. The figure has remained well above the ECB’s target for more than three years."}],[{"start":87.55,"text":"June was the fourth consecutive month that inflation in the 21-country bloc has exceeded the ECB’s medium-term target of 2 per cent."}],[{"start":96.5,"text":"Following the release of the figures, traders continued to expect the ECB to deliver another quarter-point rate rise by the end of this year, according to levels implied by swaps contracts. "}],[{"start":107.95,"text":"The euro was little changed against the dollar at $1.139."}],[{"start":112.8,"text":"Michael Field, chief equity strategist at Morningstar, said: “Investors will be quietly pleased that inflation is not the concern it was just a couple of months ago.” "}],[{"start":125.05,"text":"Additional reporting by Ian Smith and data visualisation by Keith Fray"}],[{"start":137.45000000000002,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1782899580_1817.mp3"}