A look ahead to December’s ECB meeting

Following yesterday’s comments from ECB President Christine Lagarde, the Bank looks set to make crucial decisions about the future of QE at its December meeting. We suspect that it will end its net purchases under the PEPP next March, but increase the pace of APP purchases by more than most expect. Interest rates are also likely to remain on hold for longer than is priced into markets. Meanwhile, data from the UK suggest that Covid and shortages of both goods and labour are putting the brakes on the economic recovery there, but we remain cautiously optimistic about the euro-zone outlook.