The European Central Bank on Thursday will join the U.S. Federal Reserve and other major central banks in raising interest rates. The only question is by how much — and whether the rush to make credit more expensive will tip Europe and other major economies into recession at the price of fighting record inflation.
ECB President Christine Lagarde said last month that the bank would raise rates for the first time in 11 years by a quarter-percentage point at Thursday's meeting and by at least that much in September. That led to talk of a half-point increase ahead for the 19 countries using the euro currency, and analysts say a larger hike could come Thursday, too.
