-No changes expected at upcoming ECB September meeting
The European Central Bank (ECB) will announce its interest rate decisions on Thursday, Sept. 13 in Frankfurt where EC President Mario Draghi will hold a press conference.
Thursday's ECB meeting is unlikely to bring fresh disclosures as the Bank’s policy has been set at last June’s meeting. Furthermore, experts believe the recent data releases will not impart drastic changes away from its macroeconomic projections.
As reported previously, the ECB's Governing Council will continue to make net purchases under the asset purchase program (APP) at the current monthly rate of €30 billion until the end of September 2018.
The Governing Council anticipates that after September 2018, subject to incoming data confirming the Governing Council’s medium-term inflation outlook, the monthly pace of the net asset purchases will be reduced to €15 billion until the end of December 2018, when net purchases will end.
Euro area annual inflation is expected to be 2.0 percent in August 2018, down from 2.1 percent in July 2018, according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
From the main components of euro area inflation, energy is expected to have the highest annual rate in August of 9.2 percent, compared with 9.5 percent in July. Food, alcohol & tobacco follows at 2.5 percent for August, stable compared with July. Services is forecast at 1.3 percent, compared with 1.4 percent in July, and non-energy industrial goods at 0.3 percent, compared with 0.5 percent in July.
Markets will focus on inflation data, in particular, because of its importance on impacting the ECB’s decisions. Although this data was slightly below market expectations, it was in line with the bank’s targets.