Lagarde answers questions from reporters
- Every ECB president has a different communication style
- Will launch year-long review in January
- There is nothing unusual about a strategic review, it's overdue in my opinion, the last one was in 2003
- "Don't overinterpret, don't second guess... I'm going to be myself and therefore different"
Oh man that's rich. We're definitely going to over-interpret and certainly second guess her comments.
- Would have preferred TLTRO take-up to be higher but we're not drawing conclusions
- We are very aware of the side effects of negative rates
- What we have done was always intended to fulfill the mandate
- US of interest rates has been quite efficient to meet our goals
- Eurozone not facing Japanification
- I'm neither a dove nor a hawk. My ambition is to be an owl
- Forward guidance is an interesting component
- We have relatively weak growth, let's face it but the downside risks on the horizon are less-pronounced
- I don't know what's going to happen on phase one deal but US-China talk risks are less pronounced than a few months ago
She put some extra emphasis on forward guidance, which sounds like somewhere she wants to go.
On the tougher questions, she's using the framework review as a bit of a crutch for the tough questions.