ECB raises rates for first time in more than a decade

The European Central Bank has raised interest rates by half a percentage point — its first increase for more than a decade — while pledging to prevent rising borrowing costs from sparking a eurozone debt crisis amid political turmoil in Italy.

The ECB said in a press release after its governing council met in Frankfurt that it “judged that it is appropriate to take a larger first step on its policy rate normalisation path than…