Tag: Governing Council

Ralph Atkins

After cutting some dash at his first two interest rate-setting meetings as European Central Bank president, Mario Draghi  will probably show a more cautious side on Thursday. The ECB’s governing council, gathering for the first time in 2012, is expected to leave the bank’s main interest rate unchanged at 1 per cent. After a tumultuous first few months under Mr Draghi the ECB appears to be in wait-and-see mode, at least for now.

Ralph Atkins

Thursday’s European Central Bank quarter percentage point rate cut was overshadowed by events in Brussels and the additional extraordinary liquidity help the ECB announced for distressed European banks. But it marked an important change of style at the ECB under Mario Draghi, its president since November 1.

Claire Jones

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Both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England will vote on monetary policy on Thursday.

The Monetary Policy Committee decision is out at noon local time (11.00 GMT). According to a Reuters poll, most expect the Bank to hold rates and maintain the stock of asset purchases at £200bn. However, a significant minority predict more QE, with most of these believing that £50bn is the amount that the MPC is most likely to plump for.

Though those expecting more QE in October are in the minority, the bulk of analysts do believe the Bank will expand its asset purchases at some point in the near future, with November considered the most likely option. The Bank also publishes the minutes of its FPC meeting on Monday at 09.30 local time (08.30 GMT), which may shed some light on the rather ambiguous statement that came out this week. 

Ralph Atkins

What to watch out for after Thursday’s European Central Bank governing council meeting? Jean-Claude Trichet, president, hinted at a re-think of its interest rate strategy when he told the European Parliament last week that medium term inflation risks were “under study”. That encouraged speculation that he would drop references to “upside risks” – and allow the ECB to keep its main policy rate on hold, or even consider cuts.

But the ECB may not drop the reference to “upside risks” completely. Past experience suggests the ECB keeps a hawkish bias until the very last moment. Consider the language it used in late 2008.

Claire Jones

ECB president Jean-Claude TrichetWelcome to the live blog where we will cover the European Central Bank’s rate decision and ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet’s press conference.

All times are London time; Frankfurt is one hour ahead. By Claire Jones and Chris Giles in London, and Ralph Atkins in Frankfurt.


 

16.39 Ralph Atkins’ key points, in no particular order, from today’s press conference.

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Chris Giles Chris Giles has been the economics editor of the Financial Times since 2004. Based in London, he writes about international economic trends and the British economy. Before reporting economics for the Financial Times, he wrote editorials for the paper, reported for the BBC, worked as a regulator of the broadcasting industry and undertook research for the Institute for Fiscal Studies. RSS

Ralph Atkins, Frankfurt bureau chief, has been writing about European economics and politics for the Financial Times for more than 20 years following an economics degree from Cambridge. He has been watching the European Central Bank and eurozone economies since 2004. He has previously worked in London, Bonn, Berlin, Jerusalem and Brussels. RSS

Robin Harding is the FT's US economics editor, based in Washington. Prior to this, he was based in Tokyo, covering the Bank of Japan and Japan's technology sector, and in London as an economics leader writer. Robin studied economics at Cambridge and has a masters in economics from Hitotsubashi University, where he was a Monbusho scholar. Before joining the FT, Robin worked in asset management and banking. RSS

Claire Jones is Money Supply economics team writer, based in London. Before joining the Financial Times, she was the editor of the Central Banking journal and CentralBanking.com. Claire studied philosophy and economics at the London School of Economics. RSS

James Politi is US economics and trade correspondent for the Financial Times, based in Washington DC. He joined the Washington bureau in January 2008 following four and a half years as US deals correspondent covering M&A and private equity. James Politi joined the FT in London in 2000 with an MSc at the London School of Economics, and undergraduate degrees from Georgetown University and the University of Florence. RSS

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