Eurozone inflation rate of 1.8% in September...Below 2% for the first time in more than three years.

Consumer price growth in the euro zone in 20 countries fell below 2% in September for the first time in three years and five months.

Eurostat, the EU's statistics body, said on the 1st local time that the breaking news for consumer price growth in September was 1.8%.

That's a 0.4 percentage point slowdown from August's inflation rate of 2.2%, and the lowest since April 2021.

However, the core inflation rate, which shows the underlying trend of prices, was slightly reduced to 2.7% from 2.8% in August.

As consumer price growth falls below the 2% target of the European Central Bank, the ECB, speculation is weighed that it will cut interest rates further at its monetary policy meeting scheduled for this month.

The ECB cut its benchmark interest rate twice in June and last month, ahead of the United States.

The argument for an early rate cut is more convincing as Europe is now more sensitive to the possibility of a recession than prices.

ECB President Christine Lagarde also attended the European Parliament the day before, saying, "Disinflation (slow inflation) has been speeding up over the past two months," adding, "It may rise temporarily, but the recent situation reinforces confidence that inflation will return to its target in due course. We will consider this at the next monetary policy meeting in October," he said.

Regarding the eurozone economy, he said, "Some survey indicators suggest that the recovery is facing headwinds," but predicted, "The recovery will strengthen over time because households can spend more if real income increases."