Spanish inflation unexpectedly accelerates, strengthening expectations of European Central Bank interest rate hikes. On April 29th, Golden Jubilee Data reported that Spanish inflation unexpectedly further accelerated, exceeding the European Central Bank's 2% target, supporting market expectations of interest rate hikes this year due to the Iran War. On Wednesday, data showed that Spain's CPI rose 3.5% in April, higher than March's 3.4% and exceeding market expectations. This increase is driven by fuel costs. After excluding energy and some food, the core inflation index slightly fell back to 2.8%. At the time of the release of the above data, the European Central Bank was holding a two-day meeting, and analysts and investors expected it to keep interest rates unchanged. Policy makers are still assessing to what extent price increases such as gasoline will be transmitted to other sectors of the economy. Spain is the first major economy in the eurozone to release inflation data for April, marking the second full month of the Middle East conflict. Germany will release data later today, and the overall Eurozone data will be released on Thursday before the European Central Bank announces its interest rate decision.