ECB: No change on interest rates

The European Central Bank just announced the latest interest rate it will lend money to Europe's banks at.

As expected, the ECB is holding the refinancing rate at 0.05%, the level introduced this time last year.

It's a far cry from the 4.25% rate reached just before the financial crisis in October 2008.

The rate announcement is the first of two major announcements from the central bank today. The other is a press conference from ECB President Mario Draghi at 1.30 p.m BST.

Analyst suspect Draghi could hint at extending, or ramping up, the quantitative easing programme introduced at the start of the year.

Europe is once again facing deflationary pressure after Chinese recent currency and stock market weakness, which has led investors to pile into the "safe haven" euro. The knock on effect of a strong euro is exports are more expensive, meaning there's less money coming into countries.

With less money to go around, price rises are slowing - and could even slip to deflation. That's why the ECB could move to print more money, although most analysts expect Draghi will just try and "talk the euro down" by signalling he's willing to take action.

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