ECB's Stournaras says the ECB may continue raising rates gradually

Stournaras sits at the dovish end of the Governing Council, so a willingness to endorse continued gradual tightening from him carries more signal than the same line from a known hawk; remarks from the dovish wing have historically repriced the path more than confirmation from the hawks, since they move the perceived median rather than the tails. The operative word is 'gradually', which in past ECB tightening phases has framed the cadence debate, typically read as favouring standard increments over larger steps, and the market distinction that matters is between the number of moves remaining and the size of each one, the former loading on the terminal rate, the latter on the near meeting. Single-speaker commentary of this kind tends to shift the front end only modestly unless it coheres with the run of other officials; the follow-ons are whether peers echo the guidance and how it reads against the next inflation prints, which in prior cycles have been the actual trigger for repricing the terminal rate. As commentary rather than decision, the signal is directional.