EUR: Draghi suggests that ECB stimulus will continue for some time

The main news from the eurozone last week was that inflation dropped 0.1% to 1.4%. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi spoke at the European Banking Congress in Frankfurt on Friday and said that the eurozone was not yet at the point where inflation can be self-sustained.

In addition, he added that despite solid growth and rising employment, inflation would not be able to pick up of its own accord. Rather, stimulus from the central bank is still required. In truth, this largely echoed what he said when the ECB announced it would withdraw some stimulus, but was committed to buying €30 billion of bonds from January 2018 through to at least September 2018. Ultimately, we learned that Draghi and the ECB will continue supporting the eurozone’s economy for some time yet.

It is a fairly quiet start to the week for economic data in the eurozone, but on Wednesday we will see the consumer confidence flash figures. On Thursday, Markit will release their manufacturing PMI flash report for Germany and manufacturing, composite and services PMI for the eurozone. Then, on Friday, we will see the IFO business climate for November.