Lagarde Jan 25
  • I stand by my comments [regarding possible summer rate cuts]
  • We are data dependent, not date-dependent
  • We're watching shipping cost increases and delays
  • Seeing some stabilization in wage tracker
  • Seeing slight reduction of vacancies advertised
  • Wage growth is already declining
  • Not seeing second round effects
  • We are trying to be a little more simple in our words, so don't pay too much attention to word changes in our statement
  • 80% of our survey respondents say they are happy to work at the ECB
  • I'm honored to lead the ECB
  • It's often said that wage data is backwards looking
  • PMI numbers are a small signal of stabilization and that a pickup is coming into place
  • In terms of data, we're seeing hard data that's weak (notes industrial production and retail sales). If we look at PMIs, we're seeing some encouraging numbers

Money markets are pricing in 140 bps in cuts this year compared to 130 bps before the statement. After all the statements and answers, there really wasn't much there.