By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – Econostream’s ECB Tone Meter fluctuated within slightly hawkish territory this week for the Governing Council, ultimately remaining broadly unchanged and ending just a touch more hawkish than last week, while the Executive Board edged more clearly lower but also stayed slightly hawkish.
15 May 2026 Central Bank News
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – Agence France Trésor (AFT) on Friday announced a series of auctions scheduled for May 18 and May 21, 2026, covering fixed-rate discount Treasury bills (BTFs), medium-term government bonds (OATs) and inflation-linked OATs.
15 May 2026 Debt Issuance News
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – Italy’s public debt rose by €19.5 billion in March from the previous month to €3.159 trillion, Bank of Italy data showed on Friday.
15 May 2026 Debt Issuance News
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – The Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) allotted a combined €1.5 billion in supplementary placements of multi-year Treasury bonds (BTPs) on Thursday, according to results published by the Bank of Italy.
14 May 2026 Debt Issuance News
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Mārtiņš Kazāks said on Thursday that if inflation expectations deteriorate the ECB would be “forced” to hike interest rates.
14 May 2026 Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Mārtiņš Kazāks said Thursday that the ECB’s April decision not to raise interest rates did not mean policymakers had decided to look through the current inflation shock.
14 May 2026 Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Chief Economist Philip Lane’s speech late Wednesday on energy supply shocks will come across to some as another building block in the case for a June rate hike. It is, however, more cautious than that: it takes the framework ECB President Christine Lagarde laid out in March and shows why June’s policy decision remains an open question.
14 May 2026 Central Bank News
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – The UK Debt Management Office (DMO) said on Tuesday it will auction £1.25 billion of 0⅛% Index-linked Treasury Gilt 2031 on May 19.
14 May 2026 Debt Issuance News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Wednesday said Europe’s leaders had to act on former ECB President Mario Draghi’s diagnosis of the bloc’s weaknesses, warning that Europe’s unfinished institutional architecture was being tested by a harsher global environment.
13 May 2026 Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Philip Lane on Wednesday said an energy-driven inflation overshoot that proved material and persistent could require a monetary policy response, while saying current evidence still showed limited broader effects from the Middle East shock.
13 May 2026 Central Bank News
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – German state-owned investment and development bank KfW on Wednesday raised $4 billion through a new five-year benchmark bond maturing July 22, 2031.
13 May 2026 Debt Issuance News
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – The Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) allotted an additional €1 billion of Treasury bills (BOTs) on Wednesday through supplementary auctions reserved for specialist dealers, according to results published by the Bank of Italy.
13 May 2026 Debt Issuance News
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – The Belgian Debt Agency (BDA) said on Wednesday that it had raised €8 billion on Tuesday through the syndication of a new five-year OLO maturing August 22, 2031.
13 May 2026 Debt Issuance News
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) raised €2 billion on Wednesday through a syndicated tap of its 2043 Irish Sovereign Green Bond.
13 May 2026 Debt Issuance News
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Madis Müller said on Wednesday that for the ECB to avoid hiking interest rates, the Strait of Hormuz would have to be opened quickly.
13 May 2026 Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Primož Dolenc said Wednesday that higher energy prices had so far had only limited indirect effects on the broader economy, but warned that the Middle East conflict could still push up inflation expectations and consumer prices.
13 May 2026 Central Bank News
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – We wouldn’t claim that European Central Bank Governing Council member Martin Kocher sounded on balance like a dove in our just-published interview with him, but to the extent he reflects the current thinking of Council hawks, the case for a June hike may still hang in the balance.
13 May 2026 Central Bank News
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – The German Finance Agency (Finanzagentur) allotted a combined €2.125 billion in reopened Federal bonds (Bunds) on Wednesday across two long-dated maturities.
13 May 2026 Debt Issuance News
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – Portugal’s Treasury and Public Debt Management Agency (IGCP) allotted a combined €1.426 billion in government bond (OT) auctions on Wednesday across two maturities.
13 May 2026 Debt Issuance News
By David Barwick and Marta Vilar – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Following is the transcript of the interview conducted by Econostream on 11 May 2026 with Martin Kocher, Governor of the Austrian National Bank and member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank:
13 May 2026 Central Bank News