Melanie Debono, senior European economist at Pantheon Macro, said that sales price expectations for euro zone service companies have weakened, which is a welcome development for the European Central Bank, although it may not cut interest rates. While prices are expected to fall, the labor hoarding index remains at a low level. The index measures the proportion of businesses that expect output to fall but employment to remain stable or grow. The index rose slightly in March, but was still consistent with the downward trend in unit labor cost growth. However, manufacturing companies are expected to raise prices again, more than at any time since May 2023. All in all, this will not persuade the ECB to cut interest rates earlier, but to stay on hold next month and cut rates first in June.