ECB’s Nagel Says a Rate Hike Early in the Third Quarter Is Possible

The European Central Bank may lift interest rates early in the third quarter if it decides to end bond purchases at the end of June, according to Governing Council member Joachim Nagel.

“It seems that we’ll be able to conclude net purchases, possibly already at the end of the second quarter,” Nagel told journalists in Washington, where he participates in the spring meetings by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. A first interest-rate increase could then happen “at the beginning of the third quarter, if you stick to the sequence that we agreed on.”