ECB: Sleepwalking to the QE exit - ING

Carsten Brzeski, Chief Economist at ING, notes that the ECB has just announced a reduction of monthly QE purchases and has left forward guidance unchanged.

Key Quotes

“According to the just-released press statement, the ECB decided to reduce the monthly QE purchases to €15 billion, from the current €30 billion, after September 2018.”

“The next and already anticipated step towards bringing QE to a close by the end of the year.”

“The press conference, starting at 2.30pm CET, should add some flavour to the ECB’s decision.”

“We will have a close eye on the latest round of staff projections. However, we doubt that the projections will provide even the smallest argument in favour of deviating from the current autopilot.”