By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Euro area firms reported a marked further tightening in bank lending conditions in the second quarter, while their expectations for selling prices, input costs and wages moderated, the European Central Bank said Monday.
20 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde’s newly explicit openness to leaving Frankfurt early should not be understood exclusively in terms of a potential candidacy in next year’s critical French presidential election.
20 July 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – Econostream’s ECB Tone Meter edged lower this week in both its Governing Council and Executive Board measures, with the latter declining to almost the same level as the former, virtually eliminating the gap that had previously separated the two.
17 July 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – Following is a collection of views expressed by ECB Governing Council members on various topics of high relevance related to next week’s meeting and the further evolution of monetary policy.
17 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said Friday that the digital euro would help preserve commercial banks’ role in the payments ecosystem while strengthening Europe’s payments sovereignty.
17 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said on Wednesday that Europe should seek to strengthen the international role of the euro, arguing that doing so would increase strategic autonomy in a fragmenting global environment.
15 July 2026
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Fabio Panetta said on Wednesday that the ECB would carefully assess energy markets, the economic outlook and wage and price dynamics when considering its future monetary policy decisions.
15 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel’s newest remarks confirm that a July rate hike is not the European Central Bank’s baseline and underscore the need for the ECB to exercise great caution under the prevailing circumstances.
15 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said the ECB’s monetary policy was aimed at preventing the current energy shock from generating second-round effects and at keeping inflation expectations anchored.
15 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel signaled that the ECB need not rush into another rate hike after June’s move, saying the decision had put policy at an appropriate level and that caution was warranted amid high uncertainty.
15 July 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Emmanuel Moulin said on Wednesday that the impact of renewed tensions in the Middle East on inflation would depend on how persistent and long-lasting the latest crisis proved to be.
15 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is fond of assuring markets that they understand the ECB’s reaction function. After the ECB’s June meeting , for example, she said the Governing Council’s job was to “follow carefully the reaction function that you are all familiar with” and to be “as transparent about [it] as possible so that we are predictable.”
14 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras said Tuesday that renewed hostilities in the Middle East had created fresh uncertainty over inflation and economic growth after energy prices had briefly de-escalated.
14 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel on Monday identified integration, innovation and sovereignty as key pillars for reviving growth and resilience in Europe, according to slides prepared for a speech in Münster.
13 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said Monday the final legal text on the digital euro could be completed by the end of 2026, allowing the ECB to decide on possible issuance.
13 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member Gabriel Makhlouf said Irish fiscal policy should avoid adding to inflation pressures as euro area monetary policy had tightened and Ireland faced externally driven price pressures.
13 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Monday said that risks to European Union financial stability remained elevated despite the resilience shown by the EU economy and financial system.
13 July 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) - Econostream's ECB Tone Meter declined markedly this week in both its Governing Council and Executive Board measures, with the latter remaining slightly more hawkish than the former, as policymakers sounded less likely early in the week to hike again and were then largely silent following the renewed outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East.
10 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The renewed flare-up of violence in the Middle East has made it harder for the European Central Bank to approach the Governing Council’s July 23 monetary policy meeting as a wait-and-see exercise, but it has yet to make a July rate hike the obvious baseline.
10 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras on Friday said that renewed hostilities between the U.S. and Iran showed the uncertainty surrounding energy prices and inflation forecasts, and therefore the challenges facing monetary policy.
10 July 2026