Another surprise from the Frankfurt Governing Council. The European Central Bank cut the key euro rate by ten basis points, from 0,15% to 0,05%, new record low.
Il deposit rate at the Central Bank it fell instead from -0,1% to -0,2%, to further discourage credit institutions from the temptation to park their liquidity at the Eurotower.
After the news spread, the Stock Exchanges accelerated upwards: Business Square earn 1,4%, Paris 1%, Frankfurt 0,5% and London 0,4%.
The impact on the bond market was also positive, with lo spread between the 141-year BTP and the equivalent German Bund which fell to XNUMX basis points. The decline is linked to the new historic low reached by yield on the Italian bond (2,34%).
As for the currency market, the euro it fell to 1,3055 dollars, while before the ECB's announcement it fluctuated above 1,31.
The new intervention on interest rates was not considered probable by the markets, which were rather waiting for Mario Draghi's press conference (scheduled for 14 pm), in the hope that the President of the ECB will announce unconventional interventions by monetary policy aimed at injecting liquidity into the system.
Draghi could indicate some news on the plan already decided to resurrect the sector of securitized securities (ABS). However, even this maneuver may not be decisive, therefore the attention of operators is also concentrated on the possibility that the ECB is oriented towards something more energetic: a plan of generalized purchases of public and private securities, or a "Quantitative Easing" at the European Union on the model of the one already launched by the Federal Reserve.
However, several commentators believe it is more probable that for the start of Qe - provided that Draghi manages to overcome the resistance of the Bundesbank once again - we will have to wait for the beginning of 2015.
