By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Philip Lane said Friday artificial intelligence was already making a significant contribution to euro area growth, with spending on AI adoption supporting activity and European firms participating in the global AI supply chain.
30 October 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde made a subtle but potentially meaningful shift in her public language on French sovereign stress on Thursday, invoking the ECB’s anti-fragmentation backstop in an answer about France after previously keeping the emphasis firmly on the responsibility of Paris to fix its own fiscal problems.
30 October 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Gabriel Makhlouf said on Friday that he had seriously considered raising interest rates at the ECB's October meeting and would support further action in December if the economic evidence warranted it, warning that upside inflation risks remained.
30 October 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Gediminas Šimkus said on Friday that inflationary pressures pointed toward higher interest rates, but the absence of significant second-round effects gave policymakers some room to wait for additional information before deciding on further tightening.
30 October 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Martin Kocher said Friday that if the economic and inflation situation failed to improve in the near term, the monetary policy environment would point to a need for a policy response.
30 October 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Olli Rehn said Friday the decision to leave interest rates unchanged in October was warranted, with underlying inflation relatively stable, wage pressures contained and tighter financial conditions weighing on both inflation and growth.
30 October 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Emmanuel Moulin said on Friday that the ECB was taking a measured approach to monetary policy given that inflation was largely driven by imported energy costs, with no significant spillovers to underlying prices or wages so far.
30 October 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said on Friday that inflation had picked up again and that the ECB would “act decisively” if necessary to keep inflation expectations anchored at its 2% target.
30 October 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Fabio Panetta said on Friday that further interest rate increases “could prove necessary” as inflation is expected to remain above target for an extended period, but cautioned that rising long-term bond yields are already tightening financial conditions and must be taken into account when calibrating monetary policy.
30 October 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Ülo Kaasik said Friday it was understandable that financial markets were pricing further ECB interest rate increases given the significant risk that inflation could prove faster and more persistent than projected.
30 October 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Tighter financial conditions are already helping limit the transmission of energy-driven inflationary pressures to the wider economy, European Central Bank Governing Council member Christodoulos Patsalides said Friday.
30 October 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank’s current interest rate level provides flexibility to respond to different possible outcomes of geopolitical tensions and their implications for inflation, ECB Governing Council member Primož Dolenc said Friday.
30 October 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Ante Žigman on Thursday said a decision on a possible interest rate increase could come as early as the ECB’s next meeting, while describing a gradual tightening of monetary policy as appropriate.
29 October 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde offered little explanation at Thursday’s press conference for why she is abandoning her mandate nearly nine months early, beyond saying she wants greater freedom to speak and act on matters outside monetary policy.
29 October 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said Thursday that he respected ECB President Christine Lagarde’s decision to step down early but deeply regretted it, praising her leadership of the institution through tough periods.
29 October 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde gave a more hawkish account of Thursday’s policy debate than the balanced decision statement alone suggested, revealing that the Governing Council considered raising rates immediately and saying the direction of policy would be clear if the current assessment were broadly confirmed by December.
29 October 2026
By Marta Vilar – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said Thursday that the direction of interest rates was clear barring major developments before December, after the Governing Council debated a possible rate hike but unanimously agreed to leave rates unchanged.
29 October 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged Thursday, as expected, gives official expression to the increasingly two-sided policy debate that has emerged since September, balancing the inflationary effects of the energy shock against tighter financial conditions that could reduce the amount of additional tightening required from the ECB itself.
29 October 2026
By Marta Vilar – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank’s Governing Council on Thursday left its key interest rates unchanged, noting that underlying inflation and wage growth have remained broadly stable despite rising energy prices, while financial conditions have tightened.
29 October 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde will step down on 7 February 2027, the ECB announced Thursday, confirming that she will leave before her eight-year term expires at the end of October next year.
29 October 2026