- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
ECB signals rate hike as soon as July to combat inflation
European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde hinted Wednesday at a first interest rate hike in July to tackle soaring inflation, echoing the actions of other major central banks and heralding the end of the eurozone's cheap money era.
The ECB should end its bond-buying stimulus "early in the third quarter" and could raise interest rates "only a few weeks" later, Lagarde said in a speech in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana.
The comment is the clearest sign yet from Lagarde that the ECB is ready to move on rates sooner rather later, as the institution trails rate hikes made by the US Federal Reserve and others to tame global inflation.
Any hike would be the ECB's first in over a decade and would lift rates from their current historically low levels.
These include a minus 0.5 deposit rate which effectively charges banks to park their excess cash at the ECB overnight.
Inflation in the eurozone climbed to 7.5 percent in April, an all-time high for the currency club and well above the ECB's own two-percent target.
The surge, driven in no small part by steep increases in prices for energy due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has strengthened calls for the ECB to follow its peers towards hikes.
ECB policymakers will decide their course of action in upcoming June 9 and July 21 meetings, with the July date now seen as the most likely opportunity for a rate announcement.
- Rate rise -
At its last meeting in April, the ECB's governing council resolved to end its vast monthly bond purchases "in the third quarter".
Over recent years, the scheme has hoovered up billions of euros in government and corporate bonds each month to stoke economic growth and keep credit flowing in the 19-nation currency club.
The ECB should draw a line under it "early" in the third quarter, which starts in July, Lagarde specified on Wednesday.
Ending net purchases under the programme would open the door to an interest rate rise that could follow "only a few weeks" after, she said.
After the initial move the process of monetary policy "normalisation", taking interest rates out of negative territory, would be "gradual".
- July pressure -
"To sum up Lagarde's speech: first rate hike on July 21," Carsten Brzeski, head of macro at ING bank, said on Twitter.
Decisions by the Fed and the Bank of England to raise rates aggressively to counter inflation have added to the pressure on the ECB to act.
German central bank president Joachim Nagel said Tuesday he "will advocate a first step normalising ECB interest rates in July".
The call made by the head of the traditionally conservative Bundesbank has been echoed by other members of the governing council.
On Wednesday, the head of the French central bank Francois Villeroy de Galhau also said the ECB would "progressively raise rates from the summer" to steer inflation towards the ECB's two-percent target.
The central bank is set to ratchet up interest rates at a delicate moment for the economy.
The war in Ukraine has both pushed up prices and added to supply chain disruptions, putting further strain on households and businesses.
In response to the invasion, the European Union has sought to reduce its reliance on Russian energy imports and is in discussions over an embargo of Russian oil that would add to the economic stress.
The ECB would raise its rates in July "followed by a return to zero in September" Gilles Moec, chief economist at Axa insurance, told AFP.
But "between the war in Ukraine, a complicated coronavirus situation in China", which has seen a series of lockdowns and spillovers from rate hikes in the United States, the ECB will not be able to "pursue normalisation easily", Moec said.
H.Silva--PC