European Central Bank Raises Key Interest Rate by Half a Percentage Point
February 02 2023 - 08:50AM
Dow Jones News
By Tom Fairless
FRANKFURT--The European Central Bank increased its key interest
rate by 0.5 percentage point, diverging from the Federal Reserve,
and signaled it would raise rates by another half percentage point
in March, as resilient economic growth in the eurozone and a rapid
reopening of China's economy are expected to keep inflation
high.
The ECB's move, its fifth large rate increase in a row, takes
its key rate to 2.5%, the highest level since 2008. That is still
some way below those of the Fed, which raised rates to 4.5% to
4.75% on Wednesday, and the Bank of England, which increased rates
to 4% earlier Thursday.
Investors are watching closely for signs that central banks will
pause their rate hikes as inflation starts to decline in a number
of large economies and economic growth is expected to buckle,
especially in the U.S.
Write to Tom Fairless at tom.fairless@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 02, 2023 08:35 ET (13:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.