By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau on Wednesday observed that many American economists felt that the U.S. fiscal stimulus could result in economic overheating.
31 March 2021
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The latest increase in inflation in the Eurozone’s largest economy comes as anything but a surprise at the European Central Bank. Even so, monetary authorities may be holding their breath to see what follows.
30 March 2021
The increase was the highest since 1.7% in February of last year and represented a renewed acceleration of prices after January’s 1.0% and February’s 1.3% were preceded by negative readings in each of the last four months of last year. On the month, German CPI in March came in at 0.5%.
30 March 2021
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The German Finance Agency on Tuesday announced that the federal government’s issuance plan for 2Q was being adjusted to reflect the adoption of a supplementary budget.
30 March 2021
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Now is the time for the EU to take yet bolder fiscal measures to ensure the economic recovery, European Central Bank Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras said Monday.
29 March 2021
In a speech at a breakfast meeting, de Cos , who heads Banco de España, said that the ECB’s recent decisions led him ‘to emphasize the importance of maintaining a high degree of monetary accommodation so that fiscal policy can, in turn, continue to maintain a very high degree of support for the economy until a solid recovery has been guaranteed.’
29 March 2021
In a speech at a digital workshop organised by The European House − Ambrosetti, Lane, who is also chief economist, said that ‘there is a clear risk of self-fulfilling adverse dynamics taking hold through which uncertain economic prospects induce households, firms and governments to hold back on expenditure plans, leading to a decline in overall demand that validates the loss in confidence about the future.’
27 March 2021
In an interview with German weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Scholz said, ‘The only way out of this pandemic is through vaccination - but until enough citizens have been vaccinated, we have to do a lot more testing in order to detect chains of infection at an early stage, and we have to continue to massively reduce our contacts.’
27 March 2021
In an interview with Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat, Rehn, who heads the Bank of Finland, said that an interest rate hike ‘is not yet around the corner and is not even on the horizon’.
27 March 2021
Speaking during a virtual panel of a CF40, Euro50 Group and PIIE conference, Knot, who heads the Dutch National Bank, argued that ‘[n]ot every rise in yields is inconsistent with our pledge to maintain favorable financing conditions’ and that in particular, ‘a rise in nominal rates due to better growth and inflation prospects may not cause immediate worries.’
27 March 2021
In an online speech for a Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco conference, Tenreyro, according to a text of her remarks made available by the BOE, said that although the MPC clearly pursues a forward-looking inflation target, its ‘remit has also always been clear that the MPC should target inflation flexibly’, implying a need to differentiate between durable inflation increases and transient fluctuations.
26 March 2021
In an opinion piece in Politico, Rehn, who heads the Bank of Finland, noted that the U.S. Federal Reserve had determined that lower unemployment did not necessarily stoke inflation and had adopted a regime of average inflation targeting that would compensate temporarily for past undershooting. This framework ‘seems to have gained credibility’, based on longer-term inflation expectations, he said.
26 March 2021
The German Ifo business climate index rose 3.9 points to 96.6, its highest level since June 2019. Companies survey were both happier about their current situation and more optimism about the future, the institute said.
26 March 2021
In a speech for an online webinar, Saunders said with respect to the MPC’s forward guidance – namely that it ‘does not intend to tighten monetary policy at least until there is clear evidence that significant progress is being made in eliminating spare capacity and achieving the 2% inflation target sustainably’ – that the central forecast ‘might imply the conditions for tightening will be met quite soon.’
26 March 2021
In a speech at an NYU Stern Fireside Chat posted to the ECB’s website, Schnabel said that markets would have a better idea of what to expect from the ECB, enhancing efficiency gains from monetary policy, if they know which developments the ECB will see as favourable, she said.
25 March 2021
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The annual growth of bank lending in the euro area accelerated slightly in February compared to January, while the growth rate of household loans remained the same, according to data released by the European Central Bank on Thursday.
25 March 2021
In its second economic bulletin of the year, the ECB said that the near-term outlook remained subject to uncertainty, due mainly to the pandemic and the response to it, even as medium-term risks to growth had become more balanced.
25 March 2021
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau said Wednesday that although the U.S. fiscal stimulus could lead to faster price increases there, there is no risk of inflationary overheating in Europe ‘on average’.
24 March 2021
The flash PMI composite output index rose 5.7 points to a 37-month high of 56.8. The services PMI activity index was up 5.1 points to a seven-month high of 50.8, while German manufacturing output registered 68.5, a 6.8-point gain on the month and the highest result since records begain in April 1996, HIS Markit said.
24 March 2021
In a conversation with economics students posted to YouTube, Lane, who is also chief economist, said that ‘once we contain the virus through vaccinations and other medical solutions, there should be a fairly strong bounce back of the economy.’
24 March 2021