The European Central Bank (ECB) left rates and its stimulus programme unchanged. In a statement released today, the President of ECB, Mario Draghi said that the interest rate on main refinancing operations and the interest rates on marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.040% respectively.
The ECB also said the monthly asset purchases of 80 billion Euros per month will continue "until the end of March, or beyond, if necessary". Draghi said that ECB didn't discuss an extension of the asset purchase programme.
The Eurusd jumped 0.7 percent to 1.1326 as the President of ECB was speaking, the highest since August 26th. Investors were somewhat disappointed because there was no mention of extending stimulus in the time being. This was no sooner reflected on the charts and Eurusd retraced, trading below 1.13 handle.
During the press conference, President Draghi said 'interest rates have to remain low for recovery" and "recovery is based on domestic consumption" he added.
Mario Draghi said inflation rates will remain low for some months and will take a little longer to get to a level close to 2% target. He also noted that economic risks is "titled to the downside".
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