Can the ECB squeeze in yet another rate of interest hike for the street?
Or are they finished tightening this time?
Right here’s what market watchers predict for the September ECB choice and the way the euro may react.
Occasion in Focus:
European Central Financial institution (ECB) Financial Coverage Assertion
When Will it Be Launched:
September 14, Thursday: 12:15 pm GMT
ECB President Lagarde will conduct a presser half-hour later.
Use our Foreign exchange Market Hours software to transform GMT to your native time zone.
Expectations:
- Odds appear to barely lean in the direction of the ECB climbing the rate of interest from 4.25% to 4.50%
- ECB head Lagarde is predicted to supply some ahead steerage on whether or not or not they’re open to resuming their fee hikes ultimately
Related Eurozone Information Since Final ECB Assertion:
🟢 Arguments for Tighter Financial Coverage / Bullish EUR
Eurozone flash headline CPI unchanged at 5.3% y/y in August vs. estimated dip to five.1%, flash core CPI down from 5.5% to five.3% as anticipated
German preliminary CPI confirmed one other 0.3% m/m acquire in August as anticipated, French preliminary CPI got here in stronger than anticipated at 1.0% m/m vs. estimated 0.7% uptick
July ECB assembly minutes revealed that some policymakers had been extra involved about inflation not returning to focus on than the potential of a recession, citing that “In view of the prevailing uncertainties and the massive prices of bringing inflation down as soon as it had turn into entrenched, it was argued that it was preferable to tighten financial coverage additional than to not tighten it sufficient.”
French flash manufacturing PMI rose from upgraded 45.1 studying in July to 46.4 in August vs. 45.1 forecast, German flash manufacturing PMI rose from 38.8 to 39.1 vs. 38.9 estimate
🔴 Arguments for Looser Financial Coverage / Bearish EUR
ECB head Lagarde talked about in July ECB presser that each a fee hike and a pause had been attainable for the following assembly, reflecting a shift from an aggressive to a extra cautious bias
German manufacturing unit orders slumped by 11.4% m/m in July vs. estimated 4.3% drop, earlier 7.6% acquire (upgraded from initially reported 7.0% enhance)
Eurozone retail gross sales fell 0.2% m/m in July vs. anticipated 0.1% dip, earlier 0.2% uptick (upgraded from initially reported 0.3% decline)
Sentix investor confidence index fell from -18.9 to -21.5 in September vs. estimated drop to -19.6
French flash providers PMI slumped from 47.1 in July to 46.7 in August vs. 47.5 consensus, German flash providers PMI tumbled from 52.3 to 47.3 to mirror a shift from progress to contraction
German Ifo enterprise local weather index down from 87.4 to 85.7 in August vs. 86.3 forecast
Earlier Releases and Threat Surroundings Affect on EUR
July 27, 2023

Overlay of EUR vs. Main Currencies Chart by TV Charts by TV
Motion/Outcomes: The ECB hiked rates of interest by 0.25% from 4.00% to 4.25% as anticipated.
Nonetheless, what took the markets abruptly was Lagarde’s trace that each a pause and a hike are on the desk for his or her subsequent assembly, as this represented a shift away from their very aggressive tightening stance.
The euro was already on shaky footing earlier on when the area printed largely downbeat PMI figures, earlier than some consolidation came about forward of the ECB choice.
Not surprisingly, the shared foreign money bought off sharply towards most of its friends when the central financial institution toned down their hawkishness by a notch.
Threat setting and Intermarket behaviors: Threat-off flows got here into play early on this buying and selling week when world PMIs shocked largely to the draw back.
Greater-yielders caught a little bit of reprieve from rumors of extra stimulus from China’s central financial institution and authorities, however the rallies had been reversed when the FOMC caught to its stubbornly hawkish stance.
June 15, 2023

Overlay of EUR vs. Main Currencies Chart by TV Charts by TV
Motion/Outcomes: The ECB delivered on one other 0.25% rate of interest hike as anticipated, bringing the benchmark fee as much as 4.00%.
As of their earlier selections, ECB head Lagarde reiterated their upbeat outlook and the probability of one other rate of interest hike in July.
With that, the euro broke out of its consolidation from the primary half of the week to rally largely towards the yen and the greenback.
Threat setting and Intermarket behaviors: Threat-taking was the secret early within the week, as merchants started inserting their bets for a less-hawkish-than-usual Fed choice.
Charge cuts from the PBOC additionally helped carry threat urge for food midweek, together with downbeat Chinese language knowledge reinforcing the necessity for much more stimulus.
Greater-yielders returned a few of their features when the FOMC dropped hints about resuming their tightening cycle quickly, however the pro-risk lean appeared to final till the top of the week.
Value motion possibilities
Threat sentiment possibilities: Threat-on flows have been noticed early this week, due to the PBOC’s foreign exchange strikes and a few optimistic updates on China’s financial institution mortgage knowledge.
And the tone is considerably blended the discharge of the highly-anticipated U.S. CPI report, which got here in above expectations and former reads on most counts. Equities and crypto are observably increased whereas the U.S. Greenback index flirts with pre-event ranges. Bond yields, oil and gold drift decrease.
With such a blended response, it’s powerful to gauge the final really feel of how threat sentiment might play out across the ECB launch. However in the mean time, if feels just like the market nonetheless thinks that we’re at peak fee hike cycle, which can give a really slight edge to risk-on bias merchants for now.
Euro situations
Base case: Euro merchants have been pricing in the potential of a tightening pause for this month’s ECB choice, particularly for the reason that newest batch of information level to slowing enterprise and shopper exercise.
Nonetheless, it’s additionally price noting that measures of inflation are nonetheless considerably elevated, highlighting remarks from policymakers that they’d slightly prioritize driving value pressures down and are keen to threat a tender touchdown.
That stated, the percentages barely favor one other 0.25% rate of interest hike this time, however Lagarde’s following feedback might emphasize that this is likely to be the final one for some time.
If that’s the case, we might see a slight pop increased for the euro on profit-taking through the official announcement, however intraday features is likely to be shortly reversed through the presser.
On this situation, preserve a watch out for alternatives to fade a fast EUR rally on main resistance ranges towards currencies with extra hawkish central banks (GBP) or comdolls (AUD, NZD, CAD) if risk-on flows are in play.
Different State of affairs 1 & 2: The ECB may resolve to “skip” an rate of interest hike for this month whereas nonetheless emphasizing that this can be a “hawkish maintain” state of affairs.
In spite of everything, policymakers may give some leeway for financial exercise to choose up once more earlier than resuming their efforts to push back cussed inflationary pressures.
In that case, market gamers might doubtlessly place the ECB again among the many extra hawkish central banks, together with the Fed and BOE. On this case, keep looking out for an opportunity to hop in longer-term EUR rallies towards currencies with extra dovish central banks like JPY.
This content material is strictly for informational functions solely and doesn’t represent as funding recommendation. Buying and selling any monetary market includes threat. Please learn our Threat Disclosure to be sure to perceive the dangers concerned.