European Central Bank rate decision in focus ahead of Fed meeting

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********* Central Bank rate decision in focus ahead of Fed meeting

ECB likely to reduce rates in September — but no further cuts expected this year, economist says

The big question for many market participants on Thursday is not whether the ********* Central Bank will cut interest rates — but what comes next.

“I think that it is broad consensus not only among economists but also in the [ECB’s governing] council that there will be a rate cut of 25 basis points. The big question is what signals will be sent,” Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Wednesday.

“It is a tricky situation because you have this core inflation which will go up in September, according to our inflation [forecast], to 3.2%. You have also the view of Philip Lane, the chief economist of the ECB, that wage increases will be higher over the second half of this year.”

Hamburg Commercial Bank’s De la Rubia said he was “quite skeptical” further interest rate reductions would follow a September cut.

“It is an environment where it is difficult to argue, ‘OK, now let’s move on with further steps.’ So, I think they will stick to their meeting-to-meeting approach and be quite cautious,” De la Rubia said.

— Sam Meredith

ECB set to cut interest rates just days before the Fed’s big decision

The headquarters of the ********* Central Bank (ECB) are pictured ahead of an ECB press conference on the Eurozone’s monetary policy in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on July 18, 2024.

Kirill Kudryavtsev | Afp | Getty Images

The ********* Central Bank on Thursday is set to cut rates again by 25 basis points just days ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve beginning its own rate-cutting cycle.

Traders are widely anticipating an interest rate cut at the Federal Reserve’s Sept. 17-18 meeting, as well as at the ECB’s meeting this week.

In July, the ECB left interest rates unchanged in a unanimous vote following June’s landmark cut. At the time it described the potential for a September reduction as “wide open.”

The ECB’s key interest rate — which helps to price all sorts of loans and mortgages across the bloc — is currently at 3.75% after years of aggressive hikes.

Read the full story here.

— Annette Weisbach

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