ECB’s Lane: Central bank to consider smaller December hike

In an MNI interview on Monday, European Central Bank (ECB) Chief Economist Philip Lane said that the central bank will consider reducing its pace of rate increases at its December 15 meeting.

Key quotes

"One platform for considering a very large hike, such as 75 basis points, is no longer there.”

"The more you've already done on a cumulative basis, that changes the pros and cons of any given increment.”

"We will have to look at it in terms of the inflation outlook that we have in December and take into account that we are at a different point now, and also to recognize that there are lags in the transmission process."

"Trying to jump forward to February, to March, to May or June next year, I think it's too early to have very strong views at this point. The logic of a pause for the ECB, we're not at that point.”

"The exact allocation [of rate hikes] across different meetings is a secondary issue. But the more we've already done, the less we need to do."

Market reaction

The Euro remains heavily sold-off into broad US Dollar strength while investors assess the latest dovish remarks from the ECB official. The EURUSD pair is losing 0.84% on the day, trading at 1.0234, as of writing.