European Central Bank expected to hike rates for 1st time in over decade

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - All eyes are on the European Central Bank's interest rate decision on Thursday, with economists expecting a 25-basis-point rise in eurozone borrowing costs.

The bank is expected to raise rates for the first time in more than 10 years as eurozone inflation hit 8.6% in June.

Earlier reports suggested that the bank would unveil "anti-fragmentation" tool to restrain the risk of eurozone fragmentation in borrowing costs between the bloc's strongest and weakest members.

"The pandemic has left lasting vulnerabilities in the euro area economy which are indeed contributing to the uneven transmission of the normalization of our monetary policy across jurisdictions," the bank previously said.

Meanwhile, despite a global trend of hiking rates, Japan’s central bank on Thursday decided to maintain its ultra-low interest rates at minus 0.1% for short term and at 0% for long term.

The Wall Street indexes finished higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 rising 0.59% for two consecutive days for the first time in nearly two weeks.

The Nasdaq 100, on the other hand, diverged positively, rising 1.55%.

Shares such as Bitcoin and Coinbase fell after Tesla announced that it had sold 75% of its Bitcoins.

Meanwhile, Microsoft announced that it will remove many new job postings, while Ford is preparing to lay off nearly 8,000 people.

Announcing its second-quarter balance sheet, Tesla's earnings per share exceeded expectations and left behind the highest vehicle production month in the company's history.

However, the company's shares gave back gains as the vehicle delivery growth target was found to be conservative.