Rate hike in July all but a done deal
50 bps move increasingly likely
Inflation rising, broadening
Decision at 1145 GMT, press conference at 1230 GMT

FRANKFURT, June 9 Reuters The European Central Bank will pull the plug on years of stimulus on Thursday and signal a string of rate hikes to fight surging inflation, leaving markets only to guess the size and speed of policy tightening.

With inflation at a recordhigh 8.1 and broadening quickly, the ECB has already flagged a series of moves, hoping to stop rapid price growth from morphing into a hardtobreak wageprice spiral.

Details remain elusive, however, as predicting inflation has proven impossible, suggesting the ECB will only signal its initial steps on Thursday and maintain plenty of discretion further down the line.

What appears certain is that the ECB will end its longrunning Asset Purchase Programme at the end of this month, promise a rate hike on July 21 and signal that the deposit rate will be out of negative territory sometime in the third quarter.

Everything else, including the size of the initial rate increase from minus 0.5, is likely to be left open, with ECB chief Christine Lagarde emphasizing flexibility and optionality.

While the ECB39;s own chief economist has signalled a preference for 25basispoint hikes, inflation is rising so quickly sentiment could easily change over the next six weeks.

Already, several policymakers have said that a bigger increase needs to remain in play as inflation…