"We are absolutely certain that the ECB will leave rates unchanged this month"
- Analysts at Danske Bank
The European Central Bank (ECB) is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged today after it allotted 529 billion euros of three-year loans to the banking sector.
"We are absolutely certain that the ECB will leave rates unchanged this month," analysts at Danske Bank wrote in a note to clients.
"The economy appears to have stabilized, financial markets are doing better and, most importantly, the ECB has just launched 3-year LTROs [long-term refinancing operation] totaling more than one trillion euro, so in Frankfurt they hardly see the need for further easing just now," they said.
"Up to now, it looks as though the ECB has become the lender of last resort for banks and indirectly for governments, but not yet for the economy," said Carsten Brzeski, senior economist at ING.
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