By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – The European Central Bank's Governing Council became more hawkish last week as some policymakers increasingly signaled that another interest rate increase in December was likely, while the Executive Board turned more cautious, emphasizing uncertainty and the need for additional economic data.
9 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde effectively told markets on October 29 to expect a December rate hike unless the outlook changed dramatically. In an interview published Saturday, she presented her remarks to Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun as a reiteration of her earlier guidance; our slightly contrarian view is that she gave the Governing Council a little more room to hold than she had the week before.
9 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Former Dutch central bank Governor Klaas Knot, a candidate to lead the European Central Bank, said in a Financial Times interview published Monday that he saw little need for further monetary tightening if energy prices stabilized or eased. He also said the ECB could design a new instrument if a future crisis disrupted monetary policy transmission in ways its existing tools were ill suited to address.
9 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said in an interview published Saturday that it would take significant changes to alter the policy course she expected. She left open whether the ECB would raise rates in December and warned that prolonged high inflation would increase the risk to its medium-term target.
7 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Chief Economist Philip Lane said on Friday that the ECB would gather information between its October and December monetary policy meetings before deciding what to do next, after having already raised interest rates a couple of times.
6 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras said Thursday that declines in energy prices and government bond yields following the U.S. midterm elections could benefit both inflation and economic growth, but cautioned that it was too early to assess the implications.
5 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said Thursday that Germany's economic prospects were improving thanks not only to substantial fiscal stimulus but also to the adaptability and competitiveness of German businesses.
5 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said Thursday that incoming economic data and updated projections would determine whether another interest rate increase was necessary in December, warning that the energy shock driving inflation higher could prove more persistent than anticipated.
5 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Ante Žigman said Thursday that another interest rate increase in December was a strong possibility, although policymakers would need to assess further economic information before deciding.
5 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel's reflections Thursday on the future implementation of monetary policy offered little new guidance on the most consequential unresolved questions in the ECB's operational framework review.
5 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Emmanuel Moulin said on Thursday that rising sovereign bond yields could increase borrowing costs for households and businesses, weighing on economic growth, as inflation concerns and expectations of further interest rate hikes put upward pressure on yields.
5 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Ante Žigman said policymakers would be in a better position in December to determine the appropriate direction of interest rates, according to an interview published Thursday by Croatian newspaper Novi list.
5 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel warned Thursday that large and persistent supply shocks could require a timely monetary policy response, saying consumer inflation expectations had moved away from the ECB's target following the latest energy shock.
5 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – The European Central Bank is aiming to be ready for a possible first issuance of the digital euro in 2029, provided the legislative process is completed by the end of this year, ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said Thursday.
5 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned on Wednesday that increasingly frequent extreme weather events could push food inflation higher and amplify energy price shocks, even as their immediate impact on euro area economic activity remains limited.
4 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank's latest wage tracker offers little evidence that the renewed energy shock is generating significant second-round effects, but has virtually no bearing on the Governing Council's intention to raise interest rates in December.
4 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Martin Kocher said Tuesday that another interest rate increase before the end of the year was likely if economic and inflation conditions remained unchanged, but emphasized that the ECB could not precommit to such a move given the high degree of uncertainty.
3 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said Tuesday that another ECB interest rate increase in December would probably be unavoidable, arguing that the inflation outlook had deteriorated.
3 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council members speaking since last Thursday’s decision have collectively strengthened the impression that another interest rate increase in December is the central scenario, but offer notably less support for any assumption that tightening will continue beyond then.
3 November 2026 | Central Bank News
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member José Luis Escrivá said on Tuesday that the recent increase in sovereign risk premia and long-term government bond yields was a healthy development that could encourage governments to address fiscal imbalances, provided market adjustments remained orderly.
3 November 2026 | Central Bank News