Economics

ECB Is Lonelier Than Ever After a Hawkish Turn Led by Fed

  • Pivotal week may set tone of policy divergence for months
  • Central banks deliver at least five rate hikes since Monday

European Central Bank headquarters beside the River Main in Frankfurt.

Photographer: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg
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With central banks from Washington to London this week signaling more alarm over faster inflation, the ultra-stimulative path of the euro zone and some of its neighbors appears lonelier than ever.

A collective move to look beyond the pandemic slump and toward the risk rising of accelerating prices emerged with a warning from the U.S. Federal Reserve that it may taper bond-buying soon, the prospect of higher interest rates as early as this year from the Bank of England and at least five other hikes from central banks around the globe.