ECB DAY: Mario Draghi speaks

Markets are listening to European Central Bank president Mario Draghi speak this afternoon, after the ECB cut all of its main rates, and added corporate bonds to its asset purchase program.

Draghi has well and truly fired his bazooka, and is now speaking to the press about the ECB's decision. Here are the highlights:

• Speaking in Brussels, Draghi described the new policies as "comprehensive" and said that he hopes they will help boost inflation in the eurozone to levels just below 2%.
• Draghi pointed to the ECB's belief that interest rates will stay at their current levels or lower for an extended period of time.
• The ECB expects inflation rates to stay in negative territory until later in the year, thanks, Draghi says to consistently low prices for energy futures. It has revised its inflation forecasts down for 2016, 2017, and 2018.
• It has also lowered its growth outlook for the coming years, and says that the outlook is "tilted to the downside."
• Draghi ended his prepared remarks to journalists by urging governments across the euro nations to increase their efforts to reform their economies.
• There are currently no plans to take interest rates even further into negative territory, although Draghi did say that he believes that negative rates are working well and that the ECB's experience of them is positive.
• The use of negative interest rates as a policy instrument will decrease in the future, and more "unconventional instruments" will become more important, Draghi says.
• Speaking about the expansion of the ECB's targeted long-term refinancing option (TLTRO) programme, Draghi said that he expects "a very sizeable take-up for the second TLTRO given the recovery and the very attractive conditions". Last week, Credit Suisse warned that a low uptake of TLTRO's in future could show that the ECB had run out of ammo.
• Draghi wouldn't confirm whether or not the ECB's governing council had been unanimous in supporting today's decisions, but said that there was an "overwhelming" majority in favour.
• Draghi also rubbished suggestions that the ECB has run out of ways to take on low growth and inflation, saying: "we are not short of ammunition."

After the ECB's announcement was made the euro plunged by as much as 1.4%, while stocks across Europe rallied massively. Italy's benchmark index, the FTSE MIB for instance, jumped 4% on the decision. The euro has since gone exactly the opposite direction, and is now up as much as 0.7% against the dollar. Stocks have also pared some of their gains, but are still in positive territory.

Here's the euro's rollercoaster ride on Thursday afternoon:

Follow this page for updates as the press conference develops.

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