The Latest Breaking News from Christine Lagarde

The FTSE 100 index closed up 76.88 points, 0.9%, at 9,138.37, a new closing peak.

The European Central Bank kept rates unchanged as inflation hit its 2% target. Lagarde urged patience, citing global risks and reaffirming a data-driven approach.

The European Central Bank will likely hold off on making another interest rate cut on Thursday, choosing to wait until it can measure the size of any economic blow from higher US tariffs.

The European Central Bank looks set to keep interest rates unchanged on Thursday while the introduction of higher US tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump hangs in the balance.

Stablecoins risk undermining central banks’ ability to conduct monetary policy. They’re also becoming increasingly popular among investors.

Investors in the U.S. continued the recent trend of shifting their portfolios to favor European stocks, as the dollar weakens and the euro rises.

Eurozone price pressures rose in line with expectations in June, reaching the ECB’s 2% target. ECB President Christine Lagarde struck a cautious tone in her opening remarks at the central bank’s annual symposium in Sintra.

The head of the European Central Bank said inflation has become more unpredictable due to shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - and that policymakers need to take the possibility of such extreme scenarios into account and communicate them to the public as well

The FTSE 100 index closed up 9.75 points, 0.1%, at 8,811.04.

“You’re not about to see the back of me,” insists Lagarde, sporting a necklace reading ‘in charge’, following claims she discussed leaving ECB early to run World Economic Forum

Inflation in the 20 countries that use the euro fell to 1.9% in May from 2.2% in April, helping clear the way for more interest rate cuts from the European Central Bank