JPMorgan Pushes Back Forecast for ECB Rate Hike on Slower Growth

The European Central Bank will only start raising interest rates at the end of this year as the euro-area economy faces slower growth and inflation, JPMorgan Chase & Co. predicts.

The economists pushed back their forecast for the first increase to December from September and lowered their “underlying” growth prediction for this year to 1.5 percent from 2 percent, according to a note on Thursday. They predict inflation will reach 1.1 percent at the end of this year, still short of the ECB’s goal of just under 2 percent.