FxWirePro: Daily Commodity Tracker - 21st March, 2022 
Markets breathe sigh of relief after European Central Bank minutes of its September 8th meeting released Thursday, showed that the central bank is committed to maintaining its massive bond-buying program until its conclusion next year and stands ready to extend it, if necessary.
According to the minutes, the ECB rate setters agreed that the eurozone’s economy needs continued monetary stimulus and that underlying price growth showed no sign of a strong recovery. Minutes showed there was wide agreement among the 19 national governors and six members of ECB’s executive board that they had to keep borrowing costs low to support growth and inflation.
ECB Vice President Constancio said that the purchases will go on until “satisfied that inflation is truly on the path to our objective”.
Speaking in New York Thursday, ECB Chief Economist Peter Praet said “The gradual return of our economy to a balanced growth path ... would most likely be stalled and reversed if the monetary expansion that is presently embodied in credit conditions were to be withdrawn prematurely."
A Bloomberg report earlier this week, said that the ECB “will probably gradually wind down bond purchases before the conclusion of quantitative easing, and may do so in steps of €10 billion euros” roiled eurozone bond markets. Minutes dampened the speculations as policymakers remained concerned about the lack of improvement in core inflation, and inflation expectations.
The staff projections contained a sharp downward revision to Eurozone foreign demand, primarily due to the UK referendum. If the immediate UK impact is limited, this suggests cope for an upward revision to the short-term growth outlook, although the ECB also pointed to longer-term risks.
