EUFN - Lagarde von der Leyen Appointments To Lead The ECB EC Send 3 Market Signals
The European Council's decision to propose Christine Lagarde and Ursula von der Leyen as the presidential candidates for the European Central Bank ((ECB)) and European Commission, respectively, sends three subtle but important messages to financial markets:
1) Continuity. Other candidates, particularly to lead the ECB, could potentially have steered policy in a different direction. Lagarde, personally, has called on the ECB to maintain its accommodative stance in the face of low inflation while the International Monetary Fund ((IMF)) that she leads has advocated for a simpler, symmetric inflation target. Her appointment implies continuity of the