ECB cuts rates, keeps door ajar for more easing

The European Central Bank lowered interest rates for the sixth time since June and indicated that its cutting phase may be drawing to a close as inflation cools and the economy digests seismic shifts in geopolitics.

- BLOOMBERG

THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL Bank lowered interest rates for the sixth time since June and indicated that its cutting phase may be drawing to a close as inflation cools and the economy digests seismic shifts in geopolitics.

The deposit rate was reduced by a quarter point to 2.5%, as predicted by all but one analyst in a Bloomberg survey. Officials described their monetary-policy stance as becoming "meaningfully less restrictive."

Revealing that inflation will take slightly longer to reach 2%, the ECB is switching "to a more evolutionary approach," President Christine Lagarde said Thursday. She repeated that policymakers won't commit to any particular path for borrowing costs, since the backdrop is changing "dramatically" from one day to another.