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ECB Insight: No Shooting From the Hip

ECB Insight: No Shooting From the Hip

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Over the last month, the European Central Bank has laid the groundwork for a hold at this week’s Governing Council monetary policy meeting. If the three key last-minute data points—namely euro area GDP and inflation as well as the ECB’s corporate telephone survey—do not deliver a major surprise, then a unanimous hold on Thursday still looks like the most likely outcome.

28 April 2026

Exclusives

Exclusive: ECB’s Demarco: “June Is the More Natural Horizon for Judgment”

Exclusive: ECB’s Demarco: “June Is the More Natural Horizon for Judgment”

By David Barwick and Marta Vilar – WASHINGTON (Econostream) – June, rather than the April 30 policy meeting, would be the more appropriate point for the European Central Bank to judge whether the war-driven energy shock is feeding through into broader inflation, according to ECB Governing Council member Alexander Demarco.

17 April 2026

Latest News

Central Bank News

April 28

ECB Insight: No Shooting From the Hip

ECB Insight: No Shooting From the Hip

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Over the last month, the European Central Bank has laid the groundwork for a hold at this week’s Governing Council monetary policy meeting. If the three key last-minute data points—namely euro area GDP and inflation as well as the ECB’s corporate telephone survey—do not deliver a major surprise, then a unanimous hold on Thursday still looks like the most likely outcome.

28 April 2026
Why the ECB’s Hawkish Turn Has Faded — as Seen in Our ECB Tone Meter

Why the ECB’s Hawkish Turn Has Faded — as Seen in Our ECB Tone Meter

By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – The European Central Bank lagged markets in turning hawkish after the Middle East conflict began and is already retreating from that stance, even as investors continue to price in two rate hikes for 2026, having only recently dropped expectations of an April move. This shift is clearly reflected in Econostream’s ECB Tone Meter and we explain it in this piece.

28 April 2026
ECB Survey Shows Consumer Inflation Expectations Rose in March

ECB Survey Shows Consumer Inflation Expectations Rose in March

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Eurozone consumers’ inflation expectations rose in March, including at the three-year horizon, while growth expectations worsened and expected unemployment increased, the European Central Bank said in its latest Consumer Expectations Survey, released Tuesday.

28 April 2026

Debt Issuance News

March 25

March 18

ECB Tone Meter

Entire Governing Council

27 Members
Very Dovish
Very Hawkish

Executive Board

6 Members
Very Dovish
Very Hawkish

Evolution

Governing Council vs. Executive Board

As of 27 April 2026

Meeting Bias

ECB Governing Council Meeting

Insights

ECB Insight: No Shooting From the Hip

ECB Insight: No Shooting From the Hip

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Over the last month, the European Central Bank has laid the groundwork for a hold at this week’s Governing Council monetary policy meeting. If the three key last-minute data points—namely euro area GDP and inflation as well as the ECB’s corporate telephone survey—do not deliver a major surprise, then a unanimous hold on Thursday still looks like the most likely outcome.

28 April 2026
ECB Insight: How the ECB’s April Hike Talk Gave Way to June

ECB Insight: How the ECB’s April Hike Talk Gave Way to June

By David Barwick and Marta Vilar – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank did not abruptly take an April 30 rate hike off the table. Instead, starting in late March and gathering pace by mid-April, policymakers increasingly stopped preparing markets for action at the next meeting and started buying time. April remained formally live, but messaging pointed more and more clearly toward June as the meeting at which the Governing Council expected to know enough to judge whether the Iran shock was merely painful or genuinely inflationary in the medium term.

22 April 2026