The U.S. dollar is getting cheaper against the euro in trading on Thursday after strengthening significantly against the European currency the day before.

The head of the Finnish Central Bank Olli Rehn said, speaking in Helsinki on May 18, that the members of the ECB Governing Council agree on the need to move away from negative interest rates in the eurozone “quite quickly” in the face of persistently high inflation. The ECB deposit rate is currently at minus 0.5%, it has been negative since 2014.

According to the final data of the Statistical Office of the European Union, published on Wednesday, inflation in the eurozone in April remained at a record level of 7.4% in annual terms. Thus, the rate of consumer price growth in the currency bloc is more than three times higher than the 2% target of the European Central Bank (ECB).

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia (FRB) Chairman Patrick Harker said he supports a 50 basis point (bps) increase in the benchmark interest rate by the Federal Reserve (Fed) at each of the next two meetings and a more moderate hike thereafter.

“Unless there is a significant change in statistical data, I expect a 50bp rate hike at the June and July meetings,” Harker said. – Going forward, I believe rate hikes will continue at a more moderate pace until we are confident that US inflation is moving toward the Fed’s target.”

As of 9:27 a.m. Moscow time, the euro was up 0.21% against the dollar to $1.0486 from $1.0464 at the close of the previous session. The euro lost 0.83% against the dollar on Wednesday. The pound sterling rose 0.16% to $1.2361 from $1.2341. The dollar-yen exchange rate rose 0.34% to 128.61 yen from 128.23 yen the previous day,

Calculated by ICE index, showing the dynamics of the dollar against six currencies (euro, Swiss franc, yen, Canadian dollar, pound sterling and Swedish krona) lost 0.12%, the broader WSJ Dollar Index – 0.14%.