ECB: Bloomberg Sources Highlight Tension Between Hawks and Doves Ahead of April

Bloomberg are next to send out their post-ECB meeting sources piece. At first glance, the piece screens very similarly to Reuters around an April cut being in the balance. Excerpts from the piece:

• "European Central Bank officials are bracing for tough negotiations over whether to cut interest rates further or hold fire when they next set borrowing costs in April, according to people familiar with their thinking."
• "Dovish policymakers currently see little reason to pause, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential conversations. Their more hawkish colleagues, though, are leaning toward a timeout to study geopolitical risks and the implications of a huge ramp-up in European defense spending, the people said."
• "Policymakers welcomed a compromise on the ECB’s statement language that describes the policy stance as “becoming meaningfully less restrictive,” with both camps seeing it as useful in conveying their opinions on rates in the coming weeks, the people said."

There is a little more colour on the tensions between hawks and doves in BBG's write-up compared to Reuter's reporting. A reminder that Reuters noted that "the sources, who represent both the dovish and hawkish camps in the Governing Council, agreed that the ECB was unlikely to leave its deposit rate at 2.5% and more cuts were warranted, at least based on information available today." Fairly contained reaction in ERZ5 at typing.