The ECB declared a deposit rate cut of 10 base points to -0.3% and kept all other rates unchanged. The Bank extended its asset purchase program for further 6 month and decided to reinvest the principal payments on the securities purchased under the program.
The EUR/USD pair strongly reacted to the ECB's decision and touched a new level of 1.09. Analysts do not see any scope for EUR's appreciation.
"We can imagine that we will see a further mini rate step in March when the ECB leaders will probably be forced to revise their optimistic inflation outlook (especially the core rate) downwards. However, an increase of the monthly QE purchases does not seem likely - as yesterday's decision taught us", says Commerzbank in a research note.


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