Euro gains after ECB rate cut as Lagarde pushes back on October ease [Video]

The euro rose against the dollar on Thursday after the European Central Bank lowered interest rates and ECB president Christine Lagarde dampened expectations for another cut next month, saying the bank will let economic data dictate the next policy move.

“We are going to decide meeting by meeting,” Lagarde said in a briefing after the ECB eased again on Thursday by 25 basis points (bps) amid slowing inflation and economic growth. “I’m not giving you any commitment of any kind as far as that particular date is concerned and our path is not predetermined at all.”

The ECB lowered its deposit rate to 3.5%, as widely expected. The refinancing rate, however, was cut by a much bigger 60 bps to 3.65% in a long-flagged technical adjustment.

Rate futures have pared back bets of an October rate cut to just more than seven bps from 10 bps just before Lagarde spoke, …