ECB signals second rate hike in July

The European Central Bank has indicated it will raise interest rates for a second time in four months at next week's meeting.

ECB president Jean Claude Trichet hinted a second rate hike will be agreed on 7th July, as inflation figures are released showing prices across the region were 2.7% higher in June than a year ago, Bloomberg reports. "It is of paramount importance that the current rise in inflation does not give rise to broad-based inflationary pressure," Trichet told the European parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee. "The current monetary policy is accommodative and ...