The European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Thursday said the near term outlook for the euro area economy remained clouded with high uncertainty, but data suggest the single currency bloc could expand in the second quarter. "The near-term economic outlook remains clouded by uncertainty about the resurgence of the pandemic and the roll-out of vaccination campaigns," Lagarde said in the introductory statement to the post-decision press conference. "Incoming economic data, surveys and high-frequency indicators suggest that economic activity may have contracted again in the first quarter of this year, but point to a resumption of growth in the second quarter," she added. The ongoing pandemic, including the spread of virus mutations, and its implications for economic and financial conditions continued to be sources of downside risk for the Eurozone economy outlook, Lagarde said.
"Looking ahead, progress with vaccination campaigns and the envisaged gradual relaxation of containment measures underpin the expectation of a firm rebound in economic activity in the course of 2021," Lagarde said.
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May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.