Banks eye three ECB rate hikes this year

The Euro Sculpture at Willy-Brandt-Platz in the financial district of Frankfurt, Germany, on March 6, 2025. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Brokers now forecast multiple European Central Bank interest rate hikes this year as the specter of higher inflation and lower growth piles pressure on central banks to act.  J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and…

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Price pressure in the pipeline

The ECB has announced it will be hiking rates in July and September to counter record inflation. Daniel Roland | Afp | Getty Images U.S. political strategist James Carville famously said he would like to be reincarnated as the bond market because “you can intimidate everyone.” So when bond yields start signaling a problem, the…

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Will cooler heads prevail at Davos WEF 2026?

World Economic Forum security badges Leonie Kidd | CNBC Davos Season I have been going to the World Economic Forum since 2009, when I was a young news assistant on “Squawk Box Europe” and had no idea what I was getting into. Back then, and still now, it is CNBC International’s biggest outside broadcast of…

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Global central bankers defend Fed Chair Jerome Powell

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a video message in which he states that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has threatened him with a criminal indictment related to the Federal headquarters renovation, in this screengrab obtained from a video released on January 11, 2026. U.s. Federal Reserve | Via Reuters Global central bankers…

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Euro zone inflation in November 2025

A Christmas market in Cottbus, Germany. Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images Euro zone inflation stood at 2.2% in November, marking a slight rise from the previous month, flash data from data agency Eurostat showed Tuesday. The latest consumer price index reading is just a shade above the European Central Bank’s 2% target….

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Volatile bonds, a confidence crunch and the ECB meets

Two types of story dominated the chatter in the newsroom this week. The watercooler favourite? The antics of high-profile CEOs, with the departure of Nestle’s boss over an undisclosed affair with a subordinate and the resignation of Suntory’s CEO over the possible purchase of illegal substances both causing a stir in the London and Singapore…

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