European Central Bank to hike interest rates for first time in 11 years

European markets are heading for a lower open, anticipating a historic rate hike by the European Central Bank, the first in eleven years. Investors expect the bank to hike rates by 25 basis points but they might surprise markets and actually opt for a 50 basis points hike. Either way, this is expected to support the Euro, which has lost over 9% of its value against the dollar since the start of the year, and fight inflation, which in June spiked to 8.6%, the highest level on record. For more on ECB’s interest rate decision, we were joined by Han Tan, who is the chief market analyst at Exinity Group in Abu Dhabi. #Euro #ECB #InterestRates