Affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Europe is deep in the energy crisis, with higher inflation and a weaker euro. On July 12th, the exchange rate between the euro and the US dollar reached parity for the first time in 20 years, falling to 1 euro to 1.0001 U.S. dollars. The ECB is expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points for the first time since 2011 at the conference held on July 21st.