Swiss inflation edged below forecasts in March as fuel costs fell sharply, data showed on Monday, but it remains well above the central bank's target level and interest rates still appear likely to rise further, reports Reuters. Consumer prices rose last month by 2.9% year-on-year, down from 3.4% in February, marking the 13th-straight month that increases have exceeded the Swiss National Bank's (SNB) 0-2% goal. Prices rose 0.2% month-on-month. Both Credit Suisse and UBS were anticipating an annual rate of 3.1%, and J.Safra Sarasin 3.2%. Fuel costs fell 6.3% year-on-year, reflecting the base effect of a sharp rise in March 2022, the first full month after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Poste Italiane (Italian Post) has launched a new express courier service – Fresh – to offer home delivery of fresh groceries. The service is the result of a partnership between subsidiary MLK Deliveries and Mazzocco, a company owned by the Italtrans logistics systems group, reports ESMmagazine.com. Poste Italiane’s ‘Fresh’ delivery service are already available in 16 Italian cities, namely Milan, Monza, Modena, Cremona, Lodi, Reggio Emilia, Bergamo, Brescia, Bologna, Pavia, Parma, Turin, Florence, Rome, Pistoia and Prato. The list will soon be extended to include Verona, Novara, Vincenza, Padua and Naples.
Poland's biggest e-commerce platform Allegro said it expects core earnings to rise in the first quarter as it focuses on cost control, sending its shares up as much as 15% on Thursday. Allegro is looking to keep costs down as it integrates the Mall Group business it bought last year and adapts to consumers spending less. By 1232 GMT shares were up 13.9%, on track for their biggest percentage gain since July 2022. "There was what we call trading down starting to be more visible in the fourth quarter," finance chief Jon Eastick said in an interview. "Category by category people are taking cheaper options because they know they need money for their energy bills and fuel cost." The company expects consumers to feel pressure this year, Eastick said.
Read More: Weekly Round-Up ... 28 March 2023
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