Price risks were fairly unchanged over the last month and economic activity seems to be fairly robust – and not harmed much by the credit crisis nor the US slowdown. ECB members still emphasise upside risks to price stability. Thus, we believe the ECB will still be in a “wait and see” mode on Thursday with an unchanged bias toward rate hikes. In particular, we expect the ECB to continue to monitor prices “very closely” and that it stands ready to counter upside risks to price stability.