Having already kept its policy stance unchanged in January, the ECB Governing Council also maintained the steady-hand approach in today’s meeting, notes SEB.
The press statement was a mere copy/paste from the previous one. The introductory statement presented by Draghi, on the other hand, showed a significant change of the wording in comparison to January, suggesting that a further reduction of ECB policy rates is no longer deemed necessary.
"Overall, we would describe the outcome of today’s meeting as “dovish with a hawkish twist” – an assessment shared by rates and FX markets which reacted with higher Bund yields, a steeper yield curve and a marginally stronger euro," SEB argues.
Source: SEB ResearchOriginal Article
