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ECB policymakers wary of following Fed’s route on inflation target, sources say

By Francesco Canepa and Balazs Koranyi

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – There is reluctance among European Central Bank policymakers to follow the U.S. Federal Reserve’s move to target an average inflation rate, fearing this could tie their hands, sources involved in a revamp of ECB policy told Reuters.

The four central bank sources, including members of both the hawkish and dovish wings of the ECB’s policymaking governing council, also expressed doubts about whether orthodox inflation theory still applied in economies where prices have long stagnated despite interest rates close to or below zero.

After missing its goal of keeping inflation “below but close to 2%” for a decade, the ECB is reviewing its strategy in the wake of a similar review by the Fed and just as a pandemic-induced recession is pushing euro zone inflation into negative territory.

The euro zone’s central bank has been expected to follow the Fed, which said in August it would aim for 2% average inflation over an unspecified period, so that periods when prices grow too slowly need to be compensated by times of faster increases – and vice versa.

But the policymakers who spoke to Reuters feared that going down this route risked encouraging financial markets to jump to the wrong conclusions about future policy decisions based simply on where the average happened to be at a given point in time.

Instead, they wanted to retain the flexibility to judge each situation on its own merits, for instance by playing down the significance of temporary changes in inflation due to swings in the price of oil.

“We want flexibility so an average target would not really give us a benefit,” one of the sources said.

An ECB spokesman declined to comment.

With euro zone inflation averaging 1.3% over the past decade and currently negative, they

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business

Big-box retailers like Walmart, Target try to beat Amazon on speed by focusing on curbside pickup

Walmart, Target and Best Buy will try to divert dollars from Amazon Prime Day by offering their own deals and fulfilling orders quickly through curbside and in-store pickup.
Buy online, pick up in store options have gained popularity during the coronavirus pandemic as a safe, convenient alternative to browsing store aisles.
Yet big-box retailers will have to prove they can keep up as deep discounts and holiday shopping drive demand.

a boy standing in front of a car: A Wal-Mart Pickup-Grocery employee helps a customer at a test store in Bentonville, Arkansas.

© Provided by CNBC
A Wal-Mart Pickup-Grocery employee helps a customer at a test store in Bentonville, Arkansas.

As big-box retailers throw their own sales events during Amazon Prime Day, expect to see them tout an asset that the e-commerce giant doesn’t have: numerous stores across the country where customers can quickly retrieve their online purchases.

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Amazon Prime Day starts at 3 a.m. ET Tuesday and lasts through Wednesday. Target will have “Deal Days” and Best Buy will jumpstart Black Friday sales on those days. Walmart holds its “Big Save Event” from 7 p.m. ET Sunday through Thursday.

Buy online, pick up in store options — such as curbside and in-store pickup — have gained popularity during the coronavirus pandemic as a safe, convenient alternative to browsing store aisles.

Best Buy rolled out curbside pickup at nearly all its stores during the early months of the pandemic. Walmart over the past five or six months has made tens of thousands of general merchandise items eligible for curbside pickup, along with its wide selection of groceries. Target will add fresh and frozen foods to curbside pickup at the vast majority of stores by the holidays, so shoppers can pick up milk along with gifts for their family.

By offering an alternative to waiting for a package to arrive to the doorstep, retailers are trying to beat Amazon at its

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business

ECB’s Visco Says Bank Needs Symmetrical Inflation Target, More Transparency: Newspaper | Investing News

MILAN (Reuters) – Board member Ignazio Visco said the European Central Bank should set a clearer inflation target and should attribute the opinions published in its minutes to the relevant policymakers for greater transparency.

Visco, who is governor of the Bank of Italy, told daily newspaper Il Corriere della Sera that the ECB’s current target of inflation below but close to 2% in the medium term was “vague and difficult to understand”.

“I think the target must be symmetrical,” he said in an interview published on Sunday.

“Levels of one percent or 1.5% are too low as we need flexibility margins to face crisis,” he said.

Visco said the ECB was studying a recent shift in U.S. central bank strategy which puts more focus on bolstering the labour market and less on lowering inflation.

“We are discussing ourselves on how to review our monetary policy strategy,” he said.

Visco also said the ECB should provide more clarity on its intentions and that opinions reported in its policy meeting minutes, now anonymous, might be explicitly attributed to those policymakers who expressed them.

“People need to know what each of us thinks and how we express it in the Council meetings,” he said, adding in was not positive that monetary policy decisions were followed by press releases by some national central banks or statement by policymakers.

September policy meeting minutes showed that the ECB might be more concerned about the epidemic-hit economy than analysts had previously thought, suggesting it could roll out more stimulus later this year.

“Monetary policy must remain expansive and be so for a long time,” he said.

(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

Source Article …

business

ECB’s Visco says bank needs symmetrical inflation target, more transparency: newspaper

MILAN (Reuters) – Board member Ignazio Visco said the European Central Bank should set a clearer inflation target and should attribute the opinions published in its minutes to the relevant policymakers for greater transparency.

Ignazio Visco wearing a suit and tie: FILE PHOTO: Ignazio Visco, governor of Bank of Italy, speaks during an event to launch the private finance agenda for the 2020 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) at Guildhall in London

© Reuters/POOL
FILE PHOTO: Ignazio Visco, governor of Bank of Italy, speaks during an event to launch the private finance agenda for the 2020 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) at Guildhall in London

Visco, who is governor of the Bank of Italy, told daily newspaper Il Corriere della Sera that the ECB’s current target of inflation below but close to 2% in the medium term was “vague and difficult to understand”.

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“I think the target must be symmetrical,” he said in an interview published on Sunday.

“Levels of one percent or 1.5% are too low as we need flexibility margins to face crisis,” he said.

Visco said the ECB was studying a recent shift in U.S. central bank strategy which puts more focus on bolstering the labour market and less on lowering inflation.

“We are discussing ourselves on how to review our monetary policy strategy,” he said.

Visco also said the ECB should provide more clarity on its intentions and that opinions reported in its policy meeting minutes, now anonymous, might be explicitly attributed to those policymakers who expressed them.

“People need to know what each of us thinks and how we express it in the Council meetings,” he said, adding in was not positive that monetary policy decisions were followed by press releases by some national central banks or statement by policymakers.

September policy meeting minutes showed that the ECB might be more concerned about the epidemic-hit economy than analysts had previously thought, suggesting it could roll out more stimulus later this year.

“Monetary policy must remain expansive and be so for

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money

Fans petition Target to sell Bella Swan’s comforter

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“Twilight” fans may no longer be camping out on the street for up to a week to see the stars at the films’ premieres, but they are just as enthusiastic as ever.

This week, one fan started a petition for Target to bring back a bedding set that was a staple in the bedroom of protagonist Bella Swan (played by Kristen Stewart) throughout the series.

Within four days, more than 1,300 people have signed the petition, which has a goal of 1,500 (virtual) signatures.

“Target, there’s no time like the present. Twilight fans around the globe are eager for more merchandise, and Bella’s bedding is at the top of the list for so many. Let us give you our money!”

Bella Swan’s purple comforter

That would be the Purple Flocked Comforter Set, which Target discontinued in recent years.

The Purple Flocked Comforter Set, which was sold at Target through the 2010s, is seen here in a still from the 2010 movie “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. (Photo: Kimberley French/AP)

The comforter made its first appearance in “Twilight,” which was released in 2008, and was seen throughout the rest of the films — up until Bella stopped living at dad Charlie’s house, of course, in “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1.”

According to InStyle.com, the set retailed for between $90 and $110 when it was in stores. It’s now being resold for “upwards of $500,” according to the petition.

“I figure someone had to do it, so why not me!” Samantha Rose Baldwin wrote in a post on a Facebook page for Twilight fans.

Baldwin works with The Olympic Coven, a “Twilight” acting troupe that cosplays as the films’ main characters, and plays the role of Bella.

“I have been looking everywhere for

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