May 17, 2007 — U.S. stocks rallied, carrying the Dow Jones industrial average to its eighth record this month, after billionaire investors Warren Buffett, Eddie Lampert and Carl Icahn boosted their holdings of drugmakers, banks and railroads. The Dow industrials climbed 103.69 points to 13,487.53, the S&P 500 index added 12.95 to 1,514.14, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 22.13 to 2,547.42. Health-care shares climbed the most in four weeks after Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway...
Trichet: ECB rates policy must be credible in ensuring price stability UPDATE
June 1, 2007 on 4:01 pm | In Currency |
(adds further Almunia comments)
BRUSSELS (AFX) - European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet said the bank’s monetary policy must be credible in ensuring price stability.
“The decisive contribution the ECB’s single monetary policy makes to the smooth functioning of economic and monetary union is to maintain price stability — and be credible in the deliver in the future — in the euro area as a whole,” Trichet said in a speech at the European Parliament.
EU economic and monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia said that despite the ECB’s monetary tightening over the past year “lending conditions remain fairly favourable”.
The ECB’s governing council is widely expected to raise interest rates further next Thursday, citing the need to control inflation.
In figures published today, euro zone inflation for January eased to 1.8 pct from 1.9 pct in December. This tallies with the ECB’s inflation target of below or close to 2.0 pct.
Almunia said those blaming the strength of the euro for their economic problems are being “totally unfair”.
He said such claims are “not backed up by facts or figures”.
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