M&G : comment on Christine Lagarde’s nomination for the ECB presidency

Ben Lord, fund manager of the M&G UK Inflation Linked Corporate Bond Fund :

“Yesterday's announcement that Christine Lagarde has been nominated for the ECB presidency makes it even more likely that the central bank will loosen monetary policy this year. The nomination of a more hawkish president would have posed a significant risk to the market but Lagarde is probably more dovish than the parting president himself: an advocate of QE, of fiscal policy being used to aid monetary, and in the past of more European integration. She may even have a go at persuading Germany to change tack on its current account surplus.”