The ECB decides

摘要

After a summer pause, the motley crew of economists, hacks and bankers who watch the European Central Bank were back on the trail this week. On August 30th, a big day for the ecb (see accompanying story), interest rates were cut by a quarter-point, to 4.25%. Except for one earlier quarter-point trim in May, the ecb has generally resisted pressures for rate cuts all year, in the teeth of growing evidence that the euro area's economics have been slowing sharply. Despite the central bank's past caution, quite a few economists had fxpected a cut this time.