The first ever meeting minutes from the ECB shows many thought QE as the only option. They decided to raise the initial suggestion from 50 to 60 billion euros in the final decision. Also corporate bonds were on the table. Could we eventually see QE extending to larger monthly buys that will include such bonds?
EUR/USD trades at lower range on Greek uncertainty, following the Greek submission of the extension.
The opponents of QE so no urgent need, but all agreed it was a policy instrument. There was a broad agreement that risk sharing with bond buying according to capital key.
They agreed to terminate bond buying when inflation target is reached. This is the open ended nature of the decision.
All in all, the QE decision attracted a “large number of council members” in favor of this decision.
This is the first time that the ECB publishes minutes, but we generally knew that there was some opposition to QE from the German side, even if this isn’t explicitly printed in the minutes.
The option of corporate bonds is perhaps the only big news, but also this was considered in the past.
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