As many had expected the European Central Bank lowered the basic interest rate at 0.75%; the last time ECB had cut the rate was back in December by 0.25 percent points President of ECB, Mario Draghi also referred in the Press Conference on the ECB’s decision in light of the EU debt crisis.
Mario Draghi and the rest of European Central Bank council convened today in Frankfurt and decided to lower the Euro Area interest by 0.25 percent point from 1.00% to 0.75% – its lowest rate level. Further, the ECB also decided to cut the interest rate on its deposit facility to zero. This decision didn’t come in much surprise.
Mario Draghi referred in the press conference the bank’s outlook of the EU inflation in 2012 and 2013.
The chart below percents the development of the CPI of EU and interest rates of ECB during 2011-2012.
Currently, this news seems to have a negative effect on the direction of commodities and forex prices as the Euro is traded down against the U.S. dollar and major commodities prices are falling.
Euros to USD is currently traded at 1.237 a 1.26% decrease as of 15:37*.
Current gold price, short term futures (August 2012 delivery) is traded at $1,604.2 per t oz. a $17.6 decrease as of 15:10*.
Current silver price, short term futures (August 2012 delivery) is traded at $27.595 per t oz. a 2.42% decrease as of 14:56*.
Current Nymex crude oil price, short term futures (August 2012 delivery) is traded down by 0.97%, at $86.74 per barrel as of 15:03*.
(* GMT)
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