In line with analysts’ expectations, the European Central Bank earlier announced that its existing monetary policy and 1% benchmark interest rate would be unchanged. Mario Draghi, the head of the ECB, said that they would carefully monitor developments but that they expected inflation and price stability to generally remain in line with targets, which included a 2013 projection of inflation at below 2%. Further, new indicators continued to affirm a stabilization of the Euro area though economic development was still subject to downside risks. Read more
