By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – It was only ever a matter of time before someone from the European Central Bank’s Governing Council publicly floated the potential need for the ECB to consider an outsized interest rate step. That Klaas Knot took it upon himself to do so is no shocker.
17 May 2022
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – In the context of the ongoing communications blitz being waged by members of the European Central Bank’s Governing Council, the convergence of views is hard to overlook and important not to underestimate.
17 May 2022
By David Barwick – LJUBLJANA (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde suggested on Wednesday that the ‘some time after’ of the ECB’s forward guidance needed to be defined with precision, but on balance probably just wanted to emphasise the potential imminence of a rate hike once net asset purchases end.
11 May 2022
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.
9 May 2022
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offering financial markets much new in the way of guidance about the timing with which monetary accommodation would be withdrawn, but neither was she keen to dampen expectations, and her comments on the economy suggested a degree of confidence.
8 May 2022
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.
8 May 2022
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.
5 May 2022
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.
4 May 2022
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.
2 May 2022
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.
28 April 2022
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.
26 April 2022
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank is ready to deal with the possibility of an outsized repayment two months from now of funding provided banks under the ECB’s targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTROs), Econostream understands.
25 April 2022
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Thursday took care not to show much bias in any direction, but as in March, the message came though nonetheless that Russia’s campaign of aggression against Ukraine was not standing in the way of the ECB's monetary policy normalisation.
14 April 2022
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – If Russia’s unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine were to come to an end soon, Europe would breathe a collective sigh of relief at the halting of bloodshed, but European central bankers would not necessarily see a major impact on monetary policy, Econostream understands.
14 April 2022
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The April monetary policy meeting of the European Central Bank’s Governing Council is set to be the scene of particularly interesting deliberations to which the subsequent communication by ECB President Christine Lagarde may not live up, given the likely absence of any major decisions and a clear preference for leaving options open.
12 April 2022
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – As if to counter the growing perception that tighter European Central Bank monetary policy has become a juggernaut, three Governing Council members on Friday bent the rules of the ECB’s so-called quiet period somewhat in a demonstration of unified reluctance to endorse the dominant trend.
8 April 2022
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Fabio Panetta on Wednesday recited his most current litany of reasons why monetary policy tightening shouldn’t be necessary, but his opposition seemed to have weakened and his previous downplaying of high inflation to have given way to a less categorical view.
6 April 2022
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Philip Lane on Tuesday ventured an initial guess as to when euro area inflation would cease to mount.
5 April 2022
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Almost two weeks after our last review of where each European Central Bank Governing Council member stands on rates lift-off in the current year, we take another look to see whether our informal impression that support for this has been growing stands up to inspection. It does.
5 April 2022