The euro currency moved to a new 2017 price high against the U.S. dollar, as European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi delivered an upbeat assessment of the Eurozone economy, following the central bank’s decision to leave monetary policy on hold at the July meeting of its governing council.
For the time being the ECB’s bond buying programme will remain capped at €60 billion per month, and its deposit rate of -0.4% for banks, and base interest rate will be maintained at 0.0%.
Mario Draghi said ECB policymakers would discuss potential changes to the bank’s bond-buying scheme in the autumn, lifting the euro to a 14-month high against the greenback, at 1.1676.
The ECB President Mario Draghi however struck a dovish tone when discussing Eurozone inflation, noting “Inflation is not where we want it to be and where it should be” and “We are still confident that it will gradually get there but it is not there yet. That is why we reiterated that our package of monetary accommodation is still needed”.
Market participants have been keenly watching for any change in the wording of the bank’s policy statement for hints about when further tapering may occur. That hint did not come on Thursday with the statement unchanged from the bank’s June meeting, and Draghi said that policymakers were “unanimous” in their decision not to change its wording.
There were no surprises from the Bank of Japan (BOJ), which maintained its ultra-loose monetary policy. The bank kept interest rates at -0.1%, and maintained its inflation target at 2.0%. However, in light of persistently low inflation levels, the BOJ extended the timeline for the inflation target by one year, saying it expected inflation to reach 2% by fiscal year 2020.
The USD/JPY pair initially moved higher following the BOJ press conference, rising to 112.49, but later fell back below the 111.2 level, as the U.S. dollar index weakened across the board.
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