European Central Bank

The latest Forum on Central Banking in Sintra, Portugal, offered insight this week into the thinking of the European Central Bank (ECB), Bank of England (BoE) and Federal Reserve (Fed) while also providing clues about the things that will matter for their interest rate policies in the months ahead. 

The European Central Bank looks set to kick-off its rate hiking cycle with a bold 50 basis point hike, according to a member of the Governing Council.

The Euro could benefit if the European Central Bank (ECB) turns the European continent's fragmented economic landscape to its advantage by combining quantitative tightening (QT) with quantitative easing (QE) in order to normalise its monetary policy without upset.

Members of the European Central Bank's Governing Council will hold an unscheduled meeting on Wednesday to discuss recent issues concerning Eurozone bond movements.

The ECB's shift in monetary policy is supportive for the Euro according to analysis released in the wake of the June policy update.

Euro exchange rates were highly volatile and eventually fell broadly in the wake of the June European Central Bank (ECB) monetary policy decision, which drew mixed reactions from economists and elicited mostly bearish commentary about the single currency from the analyst community. 

EUR tumbles during ECB press conference as Lagarde sends mixed messages on future policy and raises Eurozone fragmentation fears.

The Euro to Dollar exchange rate eventually slumped in the hours after the June European Central Bank’s (ECB) policy decision as open questions and engineered optionality appeared to outweigh for the market what otherwise had the makings of a bullish ECB interest rate outlook. 

The Pound to Euro exchange rate rallied briefly in what was highly volatile trade for the single currency on Thursday as the market digested a landmark European Central Bank (ECB) policy decision warning that an end to the era of negative interest rates in Europe is imminent. 

The European Central Bank will raise its key Deposit Rate well above 0% before the year is done, but this risks raising Eurozone fragmentation risks warns Bank of America.

"We forecast a mild technical recession at the turn of the year" - Barclays.

The Euro to Dollar exchange rate has continued an attempted climb from near five year lows but may need the European Central Bank (ECB) to outhawk an already hawkish market on Thursday in order to sustain its recovery momentum ahead of the latest U.S. inflation data.

The Pound to Euro rate enters the new week with its back against the ropes and the outlook for it hinged upon how the European Central Bank’s (ECB) handles its besiegement at the hands of hawkish financial markets this Thursday.

The European Central Bank has recently prepped markets for a pending uplift in its interest rates and chief economist Philip Lane suggested this week that it could now look to “validate” market expectations with actions, although this might have mixed blessing for the Euro to Dollar exchange rate.

"For the euro to find additional support there would have to be increasing signs that the ECB is hiking rates more quickly and that it might even be considering 50bp steps"

Europe’s inflation rates leapfrogged the market consensus again when climbing to new records for the month of May, vindicating in the process an shift in the monetary policy stance underway at the European Central Bank (ECB) but also likely adding fuel to an already impassioned debate.

Euro exchange rates rose at the start of the new week after European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde cemented expectations for a July interest rate hike.

July rate hike now very likely at the ECB with a 50bp hike now preferred, this is supportive of EUR for now but any pushback by the central bank could undermine recent gains.

The European Central Bank (ECB) looks increasingly likely to raise interest rates in July with one member of the Governing Council warning a surprisingly large hike could be delivered.

ECB Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau expressed concern that the Euro was too weak and was therefore contributing to inflation.