European Central Bank President Mario Draghi Thursday signaled that the governing council may provide more stimulus at its next meeting in March, noting that the outlook for inflation had weakened “significantly.”
Earlier Thursday, the ECB left its key interest rates unchanged, even as low energy prices and concerns about China’s impact on the global economy threaten to derail the central bank’s efforts to bring inflation back to its target.
Investors reacted positively to Mr. Draghi’s comments Thursday, with eurozone equity markets moving higher in anticipation of further stimulus from the central bank. The euro fell against the U.S. dollar while government bond prices rose, another sign that investors expected Mr. Draghi to deliver fresh measures in March.
Speaking in a news conference, Mr. Draghi said the stimulus measures undertaken by the central bank since June 2014—and topped up most recently in December—had “strengthened the euro area’s resilience to recent, global economic shocks.”
