Several ECB governing council members worried about euro strength, FT says

Rate-setters at the European Central Bank are concerned about the potential impact that a strengthening single currency might have on the bloc's exports and prices.

According to the Financial Times, several members of the ECB's governing council were concerned that the rise in the single currency would restrain the economic recovery.

The report in the FT followed comments from ECB chief economist, Philip Lane, during the previous session, that the currency's advance feeds into the ECB's forecast and monetary policy settings.

Typically, ECB officials refrain from linking the two.

Lane's comments on 2 September came as the euro briefly poked above the 1.20 mark against the US dollar, for the first time since 2018, with the economist saying in response that the euro-dollar exchange rate "does matter".

As of 1114 BST, euro/dollar was off by 0.3% at 1.1820.