ECB leaves interest rates alone

The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged Thursday for the first time in over a year as the Israel-Hamas war spreads even more gloom over already downbeat prospects for Europe’s economy. It is the bank’s first meeting with no change after a torrid pace of 10 straight increases dating to July 2022 that pushed its key rate to a record-high 4 percent. The ECB joins the US Federal Reserve, Bank of England, and others in holding borrowing costs steady — albeit at the highest levels in years — as inflation has eased.