The euro is getting slammed after Mario Draghi primes the bazooka
European Central Bank president Mario Draghi has hinted that more quantitative easing could be coming to the eurozone, and now the euro is getting slammed.
On Thursday, the ECB kept interest rates unchanged.
But during his press conference following the decision, Draghi said that while the ECB's QE program is having a positive impact is "proceeding smoothly," the program will be re-examined in December.
As Business Insider's Mike Bird wrote, this is being taken by markets as a sign that "the bazooka is being primed" in Europe, meaning the ECB could massively expand its QE program - which involves buying securities, mostly government bonds - which would likely further devalue the euro.
By expanding its QE program, the ECB could broaden the type of assets its buys, the maturities of the securities it purchases, or extend the period during which it plans to buy securities (which is currently set to run through next September).
Draghi also said during his press conference that the ECB discussed interest rates at its latest meeting, something it hadn't done at previous meetings and comes as something of a surprise, as markets had more or less assumed the ECB was currently at its "zero-lower bound" (even though, the deposit rate is, well, below 0% at -0.2%).
Near 8:50 am ET on Thursday, the euro was down about 1% against the dollar to around $1.1230, the lowest level in a few weeks.
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