As widely announced, the ECB yesterday cut interest rates by 25bps. At the same time, there was no pre-commitment to further rate cuts. Looking at activity data, it looks like the European economy is on the mend after the energy price shock following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The explosion in gas prices shut down much of the energy-intensive industry in Germany while at the same time forcing European households to cut back on spending after having paid their energy bills. Higher energy prices also pushed prices up on a number of other products and services, also forcing ECB to hike rates. While higher rates ... (full story)