Deutsche Bank Expects One Last ECB Hike Under Lagarde

09:59 AM EDT, 10/29/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Deutsche Bank Research expects the European Central Bank to deliver one more policy rate hike in December before Christine Lagarde steps down as president of the eurozone's central bank. "Predicting the path of ECB monetary policy is becoming more challenging. One question is whether the two hikes already delivered and the tightening of financial conditions since September are enough to lean against the further increase in energy inflation risk? Probably not. The other is whether the change of leadership at the ECB will affect decision-making next year? We think the institution is bigger than the person, but there's uncertainty," Mark Wall, Deutsche Bank's chief European economist, said Thursday shortly after the ECB kept its three key interest rates unchanged and announced that Lagarde will step down in early February 2027, several months before the actual end of her term. A rate increase in December would likely be the end of the ECB's hiking cycle, Wall noted.