European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet has said the bank is ready to raise euro zone interest rates but was not necessarily planning a series of rate hikes.
Trichet on Friday had given the first clear indication that the ECB was ready to finally raise euro zone rates but to what extent it would do so was not immediately clear to the market.
'I don't see at all, ex ante, the start of a series of augmentation of interest rates,' Trichet told the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs yesterday.
Trichet also cited the risks to growth then repeated remarks from Friday that the ECB was ready to raise rates from lows which have prevailed since mid-2003.
