020 7898 0500On a day where the UK and EU central banks largely did as expected, ECB President Draghi threw a slight curveball when he announced that the Bank had substantially upgraded its growth forecasts compared to those released in September. They expect 2.4% growth in 2017, 2.3% growth in 2018, 1.9% in 2019 and 1.7% in 2020. In fairness, it has been a positive year for the eurozone’s economy and the euro has arguably been the standout performer.
In addition, Draghi confirmed that their reduced bond-buying programme would begin in January 2018 and run until September 2018 at the earliest. He said that they were prepared to extend their €30 billion commitment beyond that if necessary and even increase it before then if they felt it necessary. The man sure does love to strike a dovish tone. You can read the press release here if you so wish.
The German manufacturing purchasing managers’ index figure came in above expectations at 63.3 which is really rather strong. It had been expected to dip a little to 62 but it proved otherwise. Any figure over 50 shows growth which demonstrates how healthy the eurozone’s largest economy is right now.
Today we have the balance of trade release for October. It is expected to narrow from €26.4 billion in September to €24.6 billion.
