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☆ Rally splutters as Europe ploughs on with rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Marc Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The European-wide STOXX 600-share index (.STOXX) fell 0.75% with banks and insurers the main culprits again, suffering 1.6%-2% drops. Norway had also hiked, although MSCI's main world share index (.MIWD00000PUS) was still in positive territory after overnight gains in Asia. Focus now shifts to the Bank of England, with investors expecting a quarter-percentage-point increase in its main rate after a surprise jump in inflation squashed hopes of it pausing its tightening campaign. /FRXElsewhere in the bond markets, although UK yields were up those on German Bunds were down at 2.281%, happy to match the falls seen on 10-year U.S. Treasuries yields that had taken them to 3.440%. Germany's European Central Bank rate setter Joachim Nagel had even said he now thought the ECB was "approaching restrictive territory" with its rates, referring to a level that curtails growth.

☆ Morning Bid: Leaning back to Fed hike, UK inflation jolt
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Two weeks of U.S. and European banking stress and failures leaves the Federal Reserve and other major central banks in the unenviable position of choosing between stabilising financial systems and fighting still historically high inflation. On top of that, the latest quarterly economic projections from Fed policymakers may reveal a big dispersion of views. Beyond the Fed, the dire UK inflation reading seems to have solidified expectations of another BoE rate rise on Thursday and a further move later in the year. If nothing else, it underlines in red ink just how all central banks are totally dependent now on incoming data evidence on what's happening in the real economy. With the U.S. dollar lower across the board ahead of the Fed meeting, sterling hit its highest level since early February.

☆ Bundesbank chief: rate-setters must be ‘stubborn’ in inflation fight -FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 22 (Reuters) - Eurozone policy-setters must be "stubborn" and continue increasing borrowing costs to battle inflation, Bundesbank chief Joachim Nagel told the Financial Times in comments published on Wednesday. “Our fight against inflation is not over,” Nagel told the newspaper, adding that he certainly felt "price pressures are strong and broad-based across the economy." Nagel said it was possible for European banks to become more cautious in lending following the turmoil. But he dismissed concerns it could affect them, saying it was "too early" to conclude the region was heading for a credit crunch. Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Clarence FernandezOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Euro pushes higher as ECB chief Lagarde says inflation is still too high
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The euro traded higher against the U.S. dollar Wednesday, following comments from the European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde that inflation is "still high." However, inflation is still high, and uncertainty around its path ahead has increased. "With high uncertainty, it is even more important that the rate path is data-dependent," she said. This implies additional uncertainty around the baseline for both growth and inflation," Lagarde said. Her comments follow remarks by Joachim Nagel, German central bank chief and ECB member, who noted that the fight against high inflation "is not over".

☆ Bundesbank deputy chief picked for ECB supervision role
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

FRANKFURT, March 10 (Reuters) - Bundesbank Vice President Claudia Buch was appointed on Friday to the European Central Bank's Supervisory Board, less than one year before board chair Andrea Enria's term of office expires. The reshuffle at the German central bank comes after Wuermeling decided to leave at the end of the year to take up another job, prompting Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel to assign new board responsibilities effective April 1. The new chair of the Supervisory Board, due to take office in January, is picked by the ECB's 26-member Governing Council and will be formally appointed by the European Union Council following the approval of the European Parliament. Buch, already responsible for financial stability issues, will remain the Bundesbank's vice president. Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Alex RichardsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

CASE FOR A SWIFT RETREAT1/ ENERGY PRICESTumbling energy prices are pulling down headline inflation. U.S. inflation rose 6.4% in January, the smallest rise since October 2021, from a 9.1% high last June. Instead, corporate profits have accounted for the lion's share of domestic euro zone price pressures since 2021, ECB data shows. A recent IMF study going back to the 1960s found that only in a small minority of cases where wages and inflation rose together for several quarters did sustained inflation result. The chief executive of Gunvor, a top oil trader, sees oil prices rising in the second half of 2023 on renewed Chinese demand.

☆ Italy's Visco raps ECB colleagues in widening hawk-dove divide
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Gavin Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ROME, March 8 (Reuters) - European Central Bank governing council member Ignazio Visco on Wednesday criticized some fellow policymakers for comments on future interest rates that diverged from what had been agreed at ECB meetings. "For this reason I don't appreciate comments by my colleagues regarding future and prolonged increases in rates," Visco added, in unusually blunt remarks that highlight a widening rift at the Frankfurt-based ECB. Visco said that while the ECB had managed to stabilise inflation expectations, geopolitical uncertainties meant economic developments were hard to predict. Other governing council members, considered policy hawks who attach overriding importance to curbing inflation even if it means hurting growth and employment, have gone further. The ECB has no policy meeting in April.

☆ Logistics Giant Kuehne + Nagel Seeks Expansion
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Kuehne + Nagel CEO Stefan Paul. Photo: Kuehne + NagelAs a forwarder, Kuehne + Nagel helps companies move freight around the world by ocean, air and land and is a dominant player in the automotive, industrial, retail, aerospace, healthcare and high-tech industries. What do you see as potential growth areas for Kuehne + Nagel in the contract logistics space? Does that make it easier for a company like Kuehne + Nagel to jump in? How would that affect Kuehne + Nagel?

☆ A porn 'Zoom-bomber' hijacked an online conference with a Federal Reserve governor
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A virtual meeting with a Federal Reserve governor was canceled after being "Zoom-bombed", per Reuters. The intruder showed porn images on the call, which had more than 200 participants. The hacker displayed the images a few minutes before the conference was due to start. In another incident in 2020, trolls joined Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and told participants in recovery that "alcohol is soooo good." The rise of Zoom meetings and subsequent Zoom-bombing during the pandemic led the company to place a 90-day freeze on new features in April 2020 while it focused on bolstering the platform's security.

☆ Sticky inflation fuels some of ECB's worst fears
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Balazs Koranyi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Overall inflation eased a touch to 8.5% last month from 8.6% in January, data on Thursday showed. But nearly all the drop came from lower energy costs, while prices for most other items - including food, services and durable goods - surged again, confirming the worst fears of some ECB policymakers. A jump in underlying inflation - to 5.6% from 5.3% - reinforces already copious evidence that past price rises are filtering down into the broader economy, including via wages. "Core inflation and other measures of underlying inflation were likely to be stickier, with only limited evidence of a stabilisation so far," the ECB said in the accounts of the Feb. 1-2 meeting. "In particular, we upgrade (the rate hike view in) May from 25bp to 50bp, which takes our terminal rate forecast to 3.75% in June."

☆ Euro zone inflation eases in February but core prices surge
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Indeed, underlying inflation, which filters out volatile food and fuel prices, an indicator closely watched by the ECB, jumped to 5.6% from 5.3%, coming well above expectations for a steady reading. Price growth in services, the biggest component in core inflation, accelerated to 4.8% from 4.4%, a big worry since the sector is especially sensitive to wage growth and the rise suggests an acceleration in labour costs. "High wage increases could imply that especially service price inflation could remain elevated in 2023-2024," Nordea analysts said in a note. "Given that the weight of services in the headline inflation is 44% and in core inflation 62%, elevated service price inflation will keep also the aggregate level inflation high." Industrial goods inflation meanwhile picked up to 6.8% from 6.7% while unprocessed food price growth surged to 13.6% from 11.3%.

March 2 (Reuters) - A virtual event with Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller was canceled on Thursday after the Zoom video conference was "hijacked" by a participant who displayed pornographic images. It is an incident we deeply regret," said Brent Tjarks, executive director of the Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America (MBCA), which hosted the event via a Zoom link. "We have been deeply upset to hear about these types of incidents, and Zoom strongly condemns such behavior," Zoom spokesman Matt Nagel said in a statement. The service has come under fire over privacy and security issues, including incidents of "Zoom bombing" in which uninvited users entered and disrupted meetings. The Fed said the event, which was to feature a speech by Waller as well as a question-and-answer session, was canceled due to "technical difficulties."

☆ Stubborn inflation will remain at a very high level, German central bank president says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Joachim Nagel, president of Germany's Bundesbank and one of the ECB's more hawkish members, told CNBC's Annette Weisbach Wednesday that consumer price rises are set to remain stubbornly high. "But still, what we expect for this year for Germany is an average inflation rate of around 6 to 7%." The yield on the 10-year German bund — seen as the main benchmark in the region — rose to its highest level since 2011 on Wednesday. Goldman Sachs said Wednesday that it was increasing its expectations for peak interest rate hikes in the euro area. The ECB is this month starting to sell bonds at a pace of 15 billion euros a month until June.

"This is an encouraging set of data, but still is only one month, and challenges remain." Global oil prices went higher, underlining how a strong Chinese recovery could fuel global inflation through increased energy demand. STUBBORN INFLATIONIn Europe, German data showed the fight against inflation still has some way to go. Factory activity continued to shrink in Taiwan and Malaysia in February, and expanded at a slower pace in the Philippines, surveys showed. Separate data showed South Korea's exports fell 7.5% in February from a year earlier, marking the fifth straight month of declines, partly due to a plunge in semiconductor exports.

FRANKFURT, March 1 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank's top three shareholders charted different paths for interest rates on Wednesday, in a preview of the difficult debate awaiting the ECB in the coming weeks. Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel appeared to back those expectations, anticipating "further significant interest rate steps" after March, when the ECB has already pencilled an increase worth half a percentage point. "The interest rate step announced for March will not be the last," Nagel, a policy hawk who favours higher rates, said in a speech. "Further significant interest rate steps might even be necessary afterwards, too." Based on national data out already, Barclays predicted that underlying inflation could accelerate to 5.4% from 5.3%.

Despite relief measures, energy prices in February were 19.1% higher on the year, while food prices were 21.8% higher, it said. The first one was driven by energy prices and the second one by material inputs, which are not ebbing. While energy prices were keeping headline inflation high, wage growth will show its impact in core inflation, which will remain stubbornly high, Brzeski said. "Hence, a stepdown to a 25bp pace of hikes could be delayed, which would also push the terminal rate higher." "The interest rate step announced for March will not be the last," Nagel said in a speech.

☆ ECB may need big rates hikes beyond March, steeper QT from July, Nagel says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"The interest rate step announced for March will not be the last," Nagel said in a speech. "Further significant interest rate steps might even be necessary afterwards, too." Once rates peak, they must stay high until the ECB is confident that inflation will return to 2%, Nagel said. "This also has to be reflected in underlying inflation. Until that is the case, interest rate cuts are a non-starter," Nagel said.

☆ Inflation will remain at a very high level, German central bank president says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailInflation will remain at a very high level, German central bank president saysJoachim Nagel, president of the Germany's Bundesbank and one of the ECB's more hawkish members, told CNBC's Annette Weisbach Wednesday that consumer price rises are set to remain stubbornly high.

☆ Lowe's has better internal levers to pull in tough times than Home Depot, says Oppenheimer's Nagel
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailLowe's has better internal levers to pull in tough times than Home Depot, says Oppenheimer's NagelBrian Nagel, Oppenheimer senior equity research analyst, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss Nagel's thoughts on Lowe's quarterly earnings results, why Lowe's outperformed peers and more.

☆ ECB could still need big rate hike beyond March, Nagel says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 24 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank may still need to raise interest rates significantly beyond March as inflation, particularly underlying price growth, remains too high, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said on Friday. Although headline inflation is well below its peak, underlying price growth, a key indicator of the durability of inflation, rose to a record high 5.3% last month, raising the risk that price growth will get stuck above the ECB's 2% target. "That's why I'm not ruling out that further interest rate hikes, significant interest rate hikes, beyond March, may be necessary." Disputing that point, Nagel said he did not think rate were restrictive yet, despite the steepest monetary tightening cycle in the ECB's history. Reporting by Francesco Canepa; writing by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Alex Richardson, Robert BirselOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Here's why Home Depot missed Wall Street's revenue expectations
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHere's why Home Depot missed Wall Street's revenue expectationsBrian Nagel, senior analyst at Oppenheimer, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss his reaction to Home Depot's earnings results, whether the company should raise its dividend, and more.

☆ Factbox: Key ECB policymaker comments since Feb rate hike
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

By smoothing our policy rate hikes – that is, moving in small steps – we can ensure that we calibrate (policy) more precisely. Boris Vujcic, Croatian central bank governor, Feb. 10"I would agree that we are likely to see more rate action beyond March." Joachim Nagel, German central bank chief, Feb. 7"From where I stand today we need further, significant rate hikes." Pierre Wunsch, Belgian central bank chief, Feb. 3"I don’t think we're going to move from 50 basis points (in March) to zero. Gediminas Simkus, Lithuanian central bank chief, Feb. 3"The March rate hike is not the last one.

☆ Morning Bid: What landing?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Wayne Cole. Forget soft landing, equities seem to be betting on no landing for the U.S. economy: a sublime state where steady growth and low unemployment can co-exist with slowing inflation and higher interest rates. That at least would explain the resilience of stocks to blockbuster U.S. retail data and the rise of 10-year Treasury yields to seven-week highs. After an initial dip, Wall Street rallied into the close and futures have since nudged higher, lifting Asian markets in the process. That's a marked divergence from the Blue Chip consensus which has been tipping a sharp contraction for the quarter.

☆ ECB's Panetta calls for small rate hikes as inflation falls
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The European Central bank should start raising its interest rates in smaller increments and avoid committing to future moves as inflation in the euro zone falls, ECB board member Fabio Panetta said on Thursday. "With rates now moving into restrictive territory, it is the extent and duration of monetary policy restriction that matters," Panetta told an event in London. Financial markets expect the ECB to increase the rate it pays on bank deposits to at least 3.5% by the summer, from 2.5% currently. Panetta also predicted that core inflation, which has become the key variable in the ECB's debate, "would eventually follow" headline inflation in falling and there was no evidence of price expectations getting out of control despite rising wages. He also called for a "a measured approach" to the ECB's unwinding of its bond holdings, which Knot and Nagel, among others, want to accelerate.

☆ Morning Bid: Growth trumps rates
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

While there were some questions about seasonal adjustments in the data, economists were impressed that sales growth was pretty broad based and have scrambled to re-crunch first quarter U.S. output forecasts as a result. There may be a more mixed picture from Thursday's data slate on producer prices, housing starts and weekly jobless claims. Even though rates futures and Treasury yields ticked back a bit today, pricing now has Fed policy rates moving as high as 5.25% and staying above 5% all year. And while full-year earnings growth estimates for S&P500 companies have sunk to zero, consensus forecasts are now pencilling in a rebound of almost 12% next year. Uncertainty about the pace of growth and annual tax receipts in April makes it difficult for government officials to predict the exact "X-date", it said.

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