Draghi answers questions for reporters
- Persistence of downside risks was a factor in the decision
- Probability of a hard Brexit has gone up lately
- Baseline doesn't include trade tensions escalation
- There is no more calendar dependence, this should offer a clear guidepost
- There was a unanimous consensus, mainly that fiscal policy should become the main instrument (crowd laughs)
- It's high time for fiscal policy to take charge
- There was broad consensus on most monetary measures
- There were more diverse views on QE but the consensus was so broad there was no need to take a vote
- There was broad consensus forward guidance, rate cut, reinvestments and TLTRO
- There was unanimity on the need to act
- One reason to act now was that inflation expectations are re-anchoring at 1.0%-1.5%
- Draghi says ECB has QE headroom for quite a long time
- We believe this package is sufficient to re-anchor inflation expectations
- There is no appetite to change limits on QE
- We didn't discuss higher QE monthly purchases
Responding to Trump's tweet, he said they don't target exchange rates and have a mandate on price stability.
The euro held last week's low on the first test. Most of the main headlines are out now, look for a further move once the press conference ends.
