According to an analysis by the British Financial Times, since ECB President Lagarde believes that the bank is in a “good state,” investors agree that the ECB will keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2% next week, and instead focus on its economic forecasts. Lagarde said this week that interest rate makers may raise their growth forecasts for the Eurozone again at the meeting. These stronger growth forecasts and continued inflation have recently led traders to increase their bets on the ECB's interest rate hike next year. However, since a potential shift in the direction of monetary policy is still controversial, and swap market pricing has only seen this change in recent weeks, traders will pay special attention to clues about the timing of interest rate hikes, and adjustments to any policy signals are expected to be subtle. Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets Eurozone economist George Moran said he doesn't expect the ECB to raise interest rates in 2026 because “the cyclical downturn may be temporary.” He added that the ECB has “made it clear that it does not want to overreact to situations that temporarily deviate from target.”

According to an analysis by the British Financial Times, since ECB President Lagarde believes that the bank is in a “good state,” investors agree that the ECB will keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2% next week, and instead focus on its economic forecasts. Lagarde said this week that interest rate makers may raise their growth forecasts for the Eurozone again at the meeting. These stronger growth forecasts and continued inflation have recently led traders to increase their bets on the ECB's interest rate hike next year. However, since a potential shift in the direction of monetary policy is still controversial, and swap market pricing has only seen this change in recent weeks, traders will pay special attention to clues about the timing of interest rate hikes, and adjustments to any policy signals are expected to be subtle. Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets Eurozone economist George Moran said he doesn't expect the ECB to raise interest rates in 2026 because “the cyclical downturn may be temporary.” He added that the ECB has “made it clear that it does not want to overreact to situations that temporarily deviate from target.”