LONDON—A series of hawkish comments amplified bets that the European Central Bank would soon hike interest rates, lifting the euro to a one-week high on Thursday amid expectations French President Emmanuel Macron would win his reelection bid on Sunday.
Joachim Nagel, president of Germany’s Bundesbank, joined fellow policymakers in saying the ECB could raise interest rates at the start of the third quarter.
Money markets, which had eased rate hike bets following last Thursday’s ECB meeting, were now pricing in a 20 basis point (bps) rise by July and over 70 bps of tightening by year-end.
That would take benchmark interest rates above zero for the first time since 2013.
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