Central Bank News

ECB’s Knot: Growth Outlook Worsened, Challenging Prospects for Sustained Recovery

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The war waged by Russia against Ukraine raises questions about the sustainability of the recovery path the economy had been on after emerging from the worst of the pandemic, European Central Bank Governing Council member Klaas Knot said Wednesday.

ECB’s Lagarde Repeats Net Purchases Should End Early in 3Q, Promises Gradual Normalisation

By David Barwick – LJUBLJANA (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Wednesday reiterated the view that the ECB’s net asset purchases should end early in 3Q, with a first rate hike to follow an indeterminate amount of time thereafter and normalisation to then proceed gradually.

ECB’s Nagel: Should End Net Asset Purchases in June, Start Hiking Rates in July

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Net asset purchases by the European Central Bank should end in June and be followed by a first rate hike in July, ECB Governing Council member Joachim Nagel reiterated on Wednesday.

ECB’s Villeroy: Faced With Rapidly Rising Inflation, We Must Normalise Monetary Policy

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau on Tuesday said that monetary policy had to normalise in view of accelerating price pressures.

ECB’s de Cos: Low Rates in Recent Years Plus Longer AWM to Mitigate Cost to Sovereign of Rate Hikes

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Interest rate hikes by the European Central Bank on the order of 100 basis points should boost the interest burden of Spanish sovereign debt by only 0.4 point in 2024, thanks to relevant trends of recent years, ECB Governing Council member Pablo Hernández de Cos said Tuesday.

ECB’s Nagel: Expect Net Asset Purchases to End in June, To Advocate First Rate Hike in July

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Net asset purchases by the European Central Bank should end in June and be followed by a first rate hike in July, ECB Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said Tuesday.

They Said it - Recent Monetary Policy Comments Made by ECB Governing Council Members

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The following is a reasonably complete compendium of the most recent comments made by European Central Bank Governing Council members with respect to monetary policy. Updates are made on a periodic basis.

ECB Insight: Net Asset Purchases Likelier to End in June, With Early July Probably Option Two

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – We wrote yesterday that we consider a June end to the European Central Bank’s net asset purchases probable, without ruling out the beginning of July. In the interim, we have grown more confident that these are in fact the choices, and prefer the former.

ECB Insight: Lagarde Avoids Stoking Expectations, But Makes Little Effort to Dampen Them

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Saturday steered clear of offering financial markets much new in the way of guidance about the timing with which monetary accommodation would be withdrawn, but neither was she keen to dampen expectations, and her comments on the economy suggested a degree of confidence.

ECB Insight: Elderson Confirms 50-Bps to Be Discussed, Avoids Revealing Own View

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Frank Elderson on Friday confirmed that a 50-bps rate hike will be on the ECB’s agenda shortly, but gave no indication as to whether he supported a policy move of that size.

ECB Insight: Amid Growing Concern About Inflation, a New Panetta is Forced to Emerge

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – What a change a few weeks can make. On Thursday, European Central Bank Executive Board member Fabio Panetta made substantive comments about the proper course for monetary policy that to some extent could have been uttered by a relatively hawkish member of the ECB’s Governing Council.

ECB Insight: Schnabel Ready to Hike in July After Ending Net Asset Purchases in June

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel on Tuesday presented a strong case for taking policy action relatively soon, suggesting in particular that net asset purchases could end in June with a first rate hike the following month.

ECB Hawk-Dove Ranking: At Long Last, Governing Council as a Whole Enters Hawkish Territory

They Said it - Recent Monetary Policy Comments Made by ECB Governing Council Members

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The following is a reasonably complete compendium of the most recent comments made by European Central Bank Governing Council members with respect to monetary policy. Updates are made on a periodic basis.

ECB Insight: de Guindos Makes July Lift-Off Sound No Less Likely Than It Was, Perhaps Even More

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos on Sunday reinforced the notion that the ECB could hike rates as soon as July, all while somewhat perfunctorily assuring that the precise date was no foregone conclusion.

ECB Brief: Holzmann Says July Governing Council Meeting Will Be ‘Most Interesting and Difficult’

- Holzmann: One purchase programme still there, scheduled to end in July
- Holzmann: Greatest concern is inflation expectations

ECB Insight: With Policy Tightening Looming Ever Larger, Super-Dove Visco Mounts a Last Stand

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Ignazio Visco on Thursday appeared torn between alternately conceding the inevitability of tighter monetary policy and staving it off.

Exclusive: More Pronounced Euro Weakness a Headache for ECB, Econostream Understands

- ECB insider: Higher depreciation of euro can affect HICP projection at end of horizon
- ECB insider: Agree with Klaas Knot that we should counter continued euro depreciation
- ECB insider: ‘Sudden [exchange rate] shifts need to be taken into account’

ECB: Price Rises More Widespread, Upside Inflation Risks Have Intensified

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Price pressures have broadened and it is unclear how long underlying inflation will persist at levels above 2%, the European Central Bank said on Thursday.

ECB Insight: Kazāks Gets Behind a July Lift-Off as a ‘Better Option’ than September

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Mārtiņš Kazāks on Tuesday positioned himself in favour of a July rate hike rather than for the next-best option of a September lift-off.