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'.