ECB signals trough in interest rates

The ECB announced a number of further significant policy easing measures following the meeting of its Governing Council last week.

It cut the deposit rate by a further 10 basis points, moving it deeper into negative territory to -0.4%. In an unexpected move, the ECB also cut its refinancing (refi) rate by 5bps to 0%.

In addition to these rate cuts, the ECB also announced that it was increasing the volume of its asset purchases to €80 billion per month, from €60bn.