Financial markets are pricing in one more rate hike this year, followed by another one or two moves next year.
Economists, in contrast, think Thursday's move may be the ECB's last for now, although a growing number see a risk that further tightening may be needed.
The ECB did not drop any hint about future moves, merely repeating its standard line that decisions would be based on incoming data.
Investors will look for clues when ECB President Christine Lagarde holds her regular press conference at 1245 GMT.
"We expect President Lagarde to maintain a hawkish wait-and-see stance, leaving the door open to further tightening," Martin Wolburg, senior economist at Generali Investments, said.
Lagarde and colleagues, gathering in Berlin for their annual venture away from the central bank's Frankfurt headquarters, are likely to have taken comfort from recent growth data.
The euro zone economy has been holding up better than anticipated despite higher fuel costs, competition from China and the impact of droughts.
Bank lending even picked up pace in July, suggesting the ECB's June rate rise had not dented activity and giving policymakers scope to tighten further on Thursday.
The ECB now expects the euro zone economy to grow by 0.9% in 2026, 1.4% in 2027 and 1.5% in 2028.
But policymakers will be watching a rise in government borrowing costs that has already tightened financing conditions.
Long-term bond yields have scaled highs not seen since before the global financial crisis, reflecting inflation concerns and worries about ballooning government debt.
Competition from bond sales by big tech companies aggressively raising money to fund the AI boom has added to upward pressure on yields, while political turmoil in Germany has shaken its government bonds, the benchmark for the euro zone.
So far, economic indicators the ECB watches have broadly been benign.
Core inflation, which strips out energy and food prices, eased to 2.4% last month and the latest survey showed consumers had trimmed their expectations for price growth. Pay rises had also moderated.
"Unlike the 2022 energy shock, this year's energy price shock is unlikely to spark a wage-price spiral, as demand conditions are not as conducive to higher inflation," Andrew Kenningham at Capital Economics said.
ING's global head of macro Carsten Brzeski said companies, at least in Germany, had so far absorbed the higher costs, in marked contrast to 2022, when the energy shock following Russia's invasion of Ukraine pushed inflation above 10%.
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