ECB’s Lagarde: We'll decide on rates meeting by meeting

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said during the European trading session on Friday that the decision on interest rates by the central bank will be meeting by meeting. Like other ECB officials, Lagarde also said that she doesn’t see any signs of second-round inflation effects yet.

Remarks

Growth is a bit more promising than we thought.

We'll decide on rates meeting by meeting.

Not seeing second-round effects yet.

Market reaction

Nothing appears in comments that is not known by financial markets, the highly likely reason why the Euro (EUR) has not reacted meaningfully. As of writing, EUR/USD is marginally higher to near 1.1485.

Lagarde keeps Euro bears cautious as growth outlook improves

FXS Speechtracker shows a weaker impact today, with the 4.4/10 score falling notably below Lagarde’s historic 5.7/10 baseline. The comment that growth is “a bit more promising than we thought” nudges the tone mildly hawkish, as it reduces the urgency for aggressive easing and keeps Euro downside somewhat contained.

However, the “meeting by meeting” guidance and the admission of not seeing second-round effects yet point to a cautious, data-dependent stance rather than a clear tightening bias. Overall, the speech leans slightly hawkish versus expectations, but the subdued score suggests markets see limited new information, keeping Euro moves more tactical than trend-changing.