“Our monetary policy will remain accommodative for as long as necessary, in line with what we communicated in July. Rates will remain at current levels, if not lower, for a long time to come”. This was stated by the president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghiat the press conference. The bank's board today confirmed the reference rate on the euro at an all-time low of 0,5%. The rate on deposits (0%) and that on marginal refinancing operations (1%) also remained unchanged.
In short, rates are not destined to rise in the immediate future, yet in the euro area "growth returned positive in the second quarter after six negative quarters" and the most recent data "confirmed the expected gradual improvement", he underlined again the number one of the Eurotower.
The ECB has positively revised forecasts for the euro area economy this year, but has filed those on 2014. Now for 2013 the technicians in Frankfurt estimate a -0,4% of GDP, while a recovery of 1% is expected for next year. Last June the estimates spoke of a -0,6% on 2013 and a +1,1% for 2014.
Immobilism on interest rates was widely expected by the markets. The operators' hope was that Draghi would reiterate his intention to keep yields at a minimum for a long time to come, also admitting the possibility of further cuts to support the economic recovery of the currency area. A purpose that the central banker had already confirmed in recent months, but which had recently been questioned by some Bundesbank analysis, the German Central Bank.
For this reason, the stock exchanges reacted positively to Draghi's words. After a cautious morning, Piazza Affari gained 0,9% in the early afternoon, the pink jersey in Europe. In the same minutes, Paris rose by 0,3%, Frankfurt by 0,3% and London by 0,4%.
