Trichet Moves to Inflation-Fighting as EU Bats Crisis

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet signaled he’s prepared to raise interest rates if needed to fight inflation even as leaders struggle to contain the region’s sovereign-debt crisis.

“We are permanently alert, we are never pre-committed not to move interest rates and our level of interest rates is designed to deliver price stability,” Trichet said at a press conference in Frankfurt today. At the same time, the benchmark rate, which the ECB left at 1 percent, is still “appropriate.”