ECB's Kocher says that it is too early to say anything about the next ECB decision

Remarks of this kind from a single Governing Council member are the standard holding pattern between meetings, and historically they move the front end only at the margin unless they break from the prevailing committee line. The tell in past cycles has been whether 'too early to say' is a genuine placeholder or a soft steer: when the centre of gravity has already formed a view, fence-sitting language from an individual official tends to fade within sessions; when the committee is genuinely split, such comments accumulate and the next decision's pricing drifts with each successive speaker. What matters is the speaker's prior form, since hawks and doves both reach for this phrasing, and the comment reads differently depending on which wing it comes from. The distinction worth drawing is between uncertainty about timing and uncertainty about direction, as the former re-prices the front of the curve while the latter moves its level. The immediate follow-ons are the remaining scheduled speakers before the next meeting, any shift in the data-dependence framing, and how the remark sits against the most recent inflation and activity prints. As commentary rather than guidance, the signal is weak and directional at best.