No fireworks are expected as Christine Lagarde on Thursday runs her first European Central Bank meeting since taking over as president from Mario Draghi.
But even without interest-rate changes, the first meeting will be closely watched for clues as to how the Lagarde era at the ECB will differ from that of her predecessor who never once lifted interest rates. The ECB decision comes at 7:45 a.m. Eastern on Thursday, followed by the Lagarde press conference at 8:30 a.m.The euro EURUSD, +0.0270% has remained virtually flat over the last three months, with an increase of under 1%, while the Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, +0.22% index of top European companies has gained over 4%.
Steve Goldstein Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch markets editor for Europe. Follow him on Twitter: @MKTWgoldstein.