The ECB's forecasts for growth and inflation are based on the premise that the bank's base lending-rate will rise by half a percentage point to 4 per cent during the course of the year. It last rose, to 3.5 per cent, in December.
Most economists expect a quarter-point rise on Thursday and many predict the ECB's governing council will decide a similar increase in May, June or July. A few observers even see rates hitting 4.25 per cent in the latter half of the year.
.NEW YORK -- The headline numbers were eye-popping: Allstate reported a record $5 billion profit for 2006. State Farm Insurance's profit climbed 65 percent for the year. St. Paul Travelers' earnings rose sixfold in the fourth quarter; American International Group's rose eightfold.
A year and a half after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, profits at the nation's major property-casualty insurance companies soared - and are expected to be strong again in 2007, according to estimates by the A.M. Best Co. rating agency.
.
