European Central Bank raises interest rates but slows pace

By DAVID McHUGH
AP Business Writer

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank has slowed the pace of its interest rate increases, stepping back like the U.S. Federal Reserve from a string of jumbo hikes aimed at snuffing out inflation. The ECB’s quarter-point hike Thursday follows evidence that its efforts are working by making mortgages and business loans harder to get. It comes a day after the Fed approved a quarter-point increase and hinted that it may have reached the end of its hiking cycle. But the ECB started later and may still have further to go even as economic growth slows to a crawl and U.S. bank instability stirs new fears of financial turmoil.