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DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - The European Central Bank is expected to hold its key interest rate steady Thursday but set the stage for a likely quarter-point increase next month as it keeps a steady hand on the pulse of the euro zone.
The bank's governing council — assembling in Dublin for one of its biannual meetings away from its Frankfurt base — is expected to discuss the growing pace of economic growth in the 13-nation euro zone, whose 317 million residents generate more than 15 percent of the world's gross domestic product.
Analysts agree that the ECB will leave its benchmark rate unchanged at 3.75 percent, but only for this month.
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