Central Bank News

ECB Insight: With no Mention of US Fed, de Guindos Interview Remains Short on Answers

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Observers of the European Central Bank who reacted with enthusiasm at the appearance of an interview with a member of its Executive Board – on this occasion Vice President Luis de Guindos, who spoke with Portuguese weekly Expresso – may have felt a tinge of disappointment to find no reference to the most interesting recent development of relevance, namely the US Federal Reserve’s decision two days ago to launch its easing cycle with a surprisingly large 50bp cut.

20 September 2024

Bundesbank: German Economy Could Shrink in Q3, Inflation Higher in Coming Months

By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – The German economy will remain weak in Q3, likely registering stagnation or negative growth, and inflation will rise again in coming months, according to the German Bundesbank’s latest monthly report, published on Thursday.

19 September 2024

ECB’s Nagel: Optimistic New EU Commission Will Move Forward on Capital Markets Union

By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said on Thursday that he is optimistic that the new EU Comission will move forward to achieve a capital markets union.

19 September 2024

ECB’s Panetta: Southern Italian Economy Needs Stimulus

By Isabel Teles – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Fabio Panetta on Thursday said that the southern Italian economy needed a boost to overcome the weakness of the global business cycle.  

19 September 2024

ECB’s Centeno: Need to Minimise the Risk of Undershooting

By Isabel Teles – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Mário Centeno on Thursday said that undershooting the inflation target was currently the main risk faced by the ECB.

19 September 2024

ECB’s Knot: 'More or Less Fine With Market Expectations of Further Cuts'

By Isabel Teles – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Klaas Knot on Thursday said that provided that the disinflation process continued, market expectations of further ECB interest rate cuts were reasonable.

19 September 2024

ECB Insight: Policymakers Struggle to Navigate Muddy Waters of Wage Growth

By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – Euro area wage growth may appear to be receding, based on a couple of important indicators that seem to point to a slowdown, but it would be premature for monetary policymakers to feel relief.

18 September 2024

ECB’s Villeroy: We Should Continue to Reduce Interest Rates

By Isabel Teles – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau on Wednesday said that the ECB should cut interest rates further.

18 September 2024

ECB’s Nagel: Interest Rates Will Not Fall as Quickly and Sharply as They Have Risen

By Isabel Teles – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel on Wednesday said that the process of monetary policy easing would not be as abrupt as the previous tightening.    

18 September 2024

ECB’s Kazāks Hoping for Second Term at Helm of Latvian Central Bank

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Mārtiņš Kazāks stands ready to remain in his current post of Governor of Latvijas Banka when his first term comes to an end in three months – now the Latvian Parliament just has to agree to the idea.

18 September 2024

ECB’s Kazāks: No ‘Serious Reason’ to Disagree with Rate Expectations of 2.5% by Mid-2025

By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Mārtiņš Kazāks said on Monday that he did not disagree with financial market expectations calling for interest rates to come down to 2.5% by mid-2025.

16 September 2024

ECB’s Lane: Gradually Dialling Back Restrictiveness Is Best Approach; Pace TBD

By Isabel Teles – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Philip Lane on Monday said that if incoming data continued to confirm the ECB's inflation projections, it would be appropriate to gradually reduce the level of monetary policy restrictiveness, but the speed of the process would remain open. 

16 September 2024

De Guindos: ECB to Keep as Much Optionality as Possible Considering Uncertainty

By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Monday that the ECB will retain full optionality in its monetary policy, given high uncertainty.

16 September 2024

ECB’s Kažimír: September Rate Cut Definitely Doesn’t Mean We’ll Cut at Each Meeting

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Peter Kažimír on Monday said that the latest rate cut should not be taken as a sign that the ECB would start making similar decisions every six weeks.

16 September 2024

ECB’s Panetta: Energy Transition Policies Need to Balance Ambition and Feasibility

By Isabel Teles – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Fabio Panetta on Monday said that for the energy transition to be completed, the related framework needed to be attainable.

16 September 2024

ECB Insight: Council Members Speak Their Minds, but the Policy Outlook Remains Unchanged

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Ten or so members of the European Central Bank’s Governing Council have already piped up since ECB President Christine Lagarde’s press conference on Thursday; their comments do not, to our mind, change the outlook or contradict Lagarde.

16 September 2024

ECB’s Nagel: Inflation to Hit Target by 2025, but ‘We’re Not Yet There’

By Isabel Teles – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel on the weekend said that the ECB's inflation target would be achieved before the end of 2025, but warned that the disinflation process was not over yet.

15 September 2024

ECB’s Wunsch: Services Inflation a Risk to Our Ability to Cut Interest Rates

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Pierre Wunsch on Sunday said that the ECB’s monetary easing was subject to some risk related to high services inflation

15 September 2024

ECB’s Holzmann: Could Be Room to Cut Interest Rates Again in December

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank may have enough leeway to cut interest rates by another 25bp in December, Governing Council member Robert Holzmann said Friday.

13 September 2024

ECB’s Makhlouf: Services Inflation and Wage Growth Imply Uncertainty Around Baseline Forecast

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Gabriel Makhlouf on Friday said that the ECB’s central inflation scenario was subject to uncertainty.

13 September 2024