The ECB interest rates announcement for the EU today is what no one wants to hear

Today (January 25^th 2024) the European Central Bank (ECB) has decided on the latest interest rate for the Eurozone area, keeping it unchanged:

This despite the scores of market experts, not to mention millions of cash-strapped Europeans struggling to spend under punitively high rates, wo were hoping that ECB president Christine Lagarde will announce an interest rate cut today.

Europe is 'fragile'

However, according to Ruslan Lienkha, chief of markets at fintech platform YouHodler who shared his views with Invezz ahead of the rates announcement, the decision was unsurprising:

Lienkha described the European economy currently as ‘fragile’, with the ECB not daring to make any sudden movements for fear of inflation tail-spinning out of control. He also referred to Bloomberg’s recent 'heatmap' for Europe, which paints a stark picture when it comes to economic recovery.

The decision to leave rates steady follows in the footsteps of Canada's central bank yesterday afternoon, who gave a similar and surprisingly hawkish speech about the need for no sudden changes at this time.

BoE interest rate forecast

With the ECB keeping business as usual, the forecast for rate cuts in the near future for other regions, such as for example the United Kingdom, is getting increasingly grim.

The next BoE meeting monetary policy meeting and report is scheduled to take place on February 1st next week.