Inside Finance | Jan 2026
Brands face pressure to shore up profits and rethink strategies
Category
Eurozone consumer prices increased by 2.4% year over year in December, according to Eurostat. Core inflation, which strips out volatile components such as fuel and food, was flat month-on-month, highlighting that core prices are broadly stable, per Morning Star.
US inflation rose to 2.9% in December, in line with expectations, bolstering the case for the Federal Reserve to slow its pace of interest rate cuts this year. Analysts are now expecting no further rate cuts until after March.
In the EU, the prospect of possible new tariffs under the incoming Trump administration inevitably adds uncertainty for exports over the first few months of 2025.
Currencies | Week of Jan 15, 2025
The US dollar has hit its highest level since late 2022 as traders scale back expectations for Fed rate cuts after last week’s strong US jobs data.
Euro hovers near two-year low on concerns around Trump administration tariff threats.
The British pound initially weakened but soon pared all losses, settling at $1.22 and hovering near its November 2023 lows as traders reacted to the latest CPI report.
The Indian rupee extended its decline to over 86.6 per USD in January, the lowest on record, as increasing capital outflows, lower foreign exchange reserves, and the outlook of looser monetary policy
Markets
Brands face pressure to shore up profits and rethink strategies
Apparel is having a better‑than‑feared holiday. Now retailers fear potential
Optimism for Holiday 2025 is growing as recent Q3 earnings
This month’s earnings reports showed that brands who are tightly
What C-suite execs are saying about growth markets, product strategy,
Leaner buying could put brands at risk of stockouts if