DRAGHI: We're not budging on QE
Here's some of his statement (emphasis added):
We intend to carry out our purchases at least until end-September 2016, and in any case until we see a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation which is consistent with our aim of achieving inflation rates below, but close to, 2% over the medium term. The Governing Council will take a holistic perspective when assessing the path of inflation. It will evaluate the likelihood for inflation not only to converge to levels that are closer to 2%, but also to stabilize around those levels with sufficient confidence thereafter.
"Until at least end-September 2016" sounds pretty unequivocal - The ECB won't be letting its big new quantitative easing scheme finish early, in short. He went on:
At this point in time we see no signs that there will not be enough bonds for us to purchase. Feedback from market participants so far suggests that implementation has been very smooth and that market liquidity remains ample.
The remarks seemed to confirm that the ECB still sees a long-term QE programme despite the recent pickup in growth in Europe. Despite that, the comments haven't done anything to slow down the euro's appreciation against the dollar today. As of 2:55 p.m. GMT (10:55 ET) is up 1.03% to $1.0931.
Here's how that looks:
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