ECB's Draghi: caution and concern - Westpac

Analysts at Westpac noted that the ECB left policy and the wording of their statement unchanged, as universally expected. 

Key Quotes:

"The tone of the press conference and Q&A was of caution and concern over the recent moderation in activity despite their continued confidence in achieving their targets. 

President Draghi repeated their patient, prudent and persistent policy stance and stated that the Governing Council did not discuss their June meeting or levels of FX. Indeed, Draghi said that “we didn’t discuss monetary policy per se.” 

"A Bloomberg report claimed that Draghi rebuffed a proposal to discuss what to do after the Sep 2018 provisional date for the end of asset purchases."

"EUR/USD probed as high as 1.2210 after the brief statement was released but fell sharply in response to Draghi’s press conference, reaching 1.2096, a low since 12 January."