Growth of the euro zone money supply, as measured by the broad indicator M3, slowed unexpectedly to 8% in October from 8.4% in September, according to the latest data from the European Central Bank today.
M3 covers cash, overnight deposits, other short-term deposits, repurchase agreements, shares and units in money market funds and debt securities with a maturity of up to two years and is the ECB's preferred indicator of medium-term inflationary trends in the euro zone economy.
Because the monthly figures are subject to volatility, the ECB also calculates a three-month moving average for M3 growth, which stood at 8.2% in the period from August to October, the same rate of change as in the period from July to September.
