Neil Williams, chief economist, Hermes Group “The ECB’s private asset purchases may help, but the amounts are small, and any benefit will fall more to the bigger, core members than the periphery. Far more useful would’ve been the ‘bazooka’ of unlimited sovereign QE, which was not fired. But Mr Draghi’s clearly leaving his powder dry.”
Ken Wattret, market economist, BNP Paribas “The ECB is showing it is sensitive to the downside risks, after appearing to ignore them in August. There was an important signalling issue there. The council feels that the June rate cut has contributed to a decline in the euro, and they want that to continue.”
Simon Ward, chief economist, Henderson “The ECB surpassed expectations for this month’s meeting. It is probably on hold at least through December to assess the effects of its various easing measures since June. Henderson’s view is that eurozone economic news will improve in late 2014, quelling calls for QE.”
Martin Harvey, fixed-income fund manager, Threadneedle Investments “This will mark the beginning of quantitative easing, albeit without going down the traditional route of sovereign bond purchases. Institutional hurdles remain, but it is still in the armoury if the economic situation were to worsen further.”
Trevor Greetham, director of asset allocation, Fidelity Worldwide Investment “There is no further room to cut rates so the focus is on the liquidity injections and asset purchase programmes already announced. [Mr Draghi] repeated his call for a more growth-friendly fiscal stance. What Europe really needs is a much easier fiscal stance in countries like Germany, but that isn’t likely.”