At today’s meeting the Governing Council of the ECB decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.40% respectively. The Governing Council expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of the net asset purchases. Regarding non-standard monetary policy measures, the Governing Council confirms that the net asset purchases, at the current monthly pace of €60 billion, are intended to run until the ... (full story)

The European Central Bank (ECB) left its benchmark interest rate unchanged Thursday and made no reference to the anticipated wind-down of its stimulus program. President Mario Draghi had said at the last ECB press conference in July that discussions over the future of the central bank's quantitative easing (QE) program could be expected in "the fall" - prompting many to speculate that he could detail a reduction in September. However, with Thursday's announcement investors will now be looking to a press conference with the economist at 1:30 p.m. London time, but may have to wait until October's meeting for further ... (full story)