Comments from Draghi

  • Monetary policy is very accommodative
  • The drivers of the economic recovery are still in place, consumption continues to grow, driven by increases in disposable income
  • Business investment continues to grow, residential investment is robust
  • External demand has gone down but still grows
  • It's not just a one-off, it's been weaker for awhile
  • We ask ourselves, how weak is this? Some factors are transient but there are some factors that are more-permanent
  • Trade situation is probably better than two months ago
  • Some emerging market worries are lower than two months ago
  • The percentage of firms reporting increasing profits declined
  • Asked about a shorter timeframe for reinvestment, says won't speculate on timeframe, will continue to reflect on it
  • ECB has instruments to address any future downturn
  • Decision on reinvestments was unanimous
  • Inflation forecasts 'by and large what they were before'
  • ECB hasn't discussed other monetary policy tools
  • QE is now part of the permanent ECB toolbox

The euro is down to 1.1339 from 1.1375 on the shift to the balance of risks 'moving to the downside'.