ECB’s Nagel Says Further Tightening Possible After Rate Hike

Nagel's refusal to rule out mildly restrictive measures keeps the ECB's tightening bias alive even as he declines to pre-commit to the next move, leaving the pace of further hikes genuinely data-dependent. The explicit nod to energy prices as the key variable is the tell: it frames eurozone monetary policy as hostage to a supply-side shock the ECB cannot control, which matters for rate-sensitive sectors and the euro. Whether energy-driven inflation actually eases enough to end the hiking cycle is the open question.