ECB returned to Sintra in a self-praising tone and without lifting the veil on interest rate changes

In addition to repeated messages of caution in the face of still high uncertainty, this year's European Central Bank (ECB) Forum was marked by the presentation of the monetary authority's strategy review, which also failed to bring any major news. The Fed chairman once again ignored Trump's insults, receiving support from his colleagues, and there was also room for an alignment between the current, the former and one of the possible future governors of the Bank of Portugal (BdP).

The 12th edition of the ECB's annual event, once again held in Sintra, featured several presentations of studies, awards and the usual debate panels, with the highlight being the discussion that brought together the governors of five of the largest central banks in the northern hemisphere – the ECB, the Fed, the Bank of England (BoE), the Bank of Japan (BoJ) and the Bank of Korea. The watchword, however, did not change from recent past occasions: prudence.

A few hours after it was announced that inflation in the eurozone had fallen to 2% in June, matching the ECB’s target, Christine Lagarde rejected the idea of ​​“mission accomplished, but rather objective achieved”. Warning that the outlook continues to point to “a lot of uncertainty and a growing risk of fragmentation”, the dependence on data will continue, so there was no room for any signals regarding the future direction of interest rates – echoing a message repeated countless times in her press conferences.

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