Euro May Fall if ECB Meeting Minutes Omit Talk of Tapering QE

Euro May Fall If ECB Meeting Minutes Omit Talk Of Tapering QE

By Ilya Spivak of DailyFX

Thursday, August 17, 2017 5:45 AM EDT

The European economic data docket is relatively quiet, with ECB policy meeting minutes amounting to the only bit of noteworthy scheduled event risk. The document may prove market-moving for what is absent from its pages rather than what is contained therein.

The central bank signaled that President Mario Draghi would not delve into plans to taper QE asset purchases in a speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium this month. That conversation will have to wait until September’s formal policy announcement and so might be conspicuously missing in today’s release.

Hopes for near-term ECB stimulus withdrawal are seemingly still swirling around the financial markets despite a recent downturn in headline inflation. That means the apparent absence of substantive debate on the matter at July’s Governing Council conclave might be seen as disappointing, hurting the Euro.

The Japanese Yen outperformed in Asian trade as most regional stock exchanges weakened, offering support to the perennially anti-risk currency. The US Dollar traded broadly lower, extending earlier losses in the wake of worrying headlines from Washington DC and minutes from July’s FOMC meeting.

Asia Session

Euro May Fall if ECB Meeting Minutes Omit Talk of Tapering QE