Euro Rallies Ahead of ECB Meeting Thursday

July 2, 2008

The Euro is rallying ahead of Thursday’s ECB monetary policy meeting telling us that the market expects ECB President Trichet to say something hawkish. A 25bp rate hike has already been discounted by currency traders, but with the annualized pace of Eurozone producer prices growing by the fastest pace on record, consumer spending in Germany doubling expectations and the German unemployment rate falling to a 14 year low, the ECB may have to reconsider their plans to raise interest rates by only 25bp this year.

The ECB is a central bank that hates surprises and because of that, they always like to prepare the markets weeks if not months in advance of any pending move. That is why they have been telling us that a 25bp rate hike, which would be their first since 2007 is the appropriate expectation for the upcoming monetary policy meeting. They have also been warning that they are not planning a series of rate hikes. However the ECB may have to backtrack on these words given the recent economic reports.

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