ECB to begin tapering Eurozone QE in January 2018

Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, struck a dovish tone at today’s meeting on monetary policy for the single currency block. Draghi announced his intention to begin tapering the European QE project down to monthly purchases of € 30 billon from January next year.  Whilst this is a meaningful figure, one must remember that the proceeds from existing bonds will continue to be reinvested back into the bond market. Draghi went on to state that despite the tapering programme, there will be an ample degree of monetary stimulus remaining. Markets took this as an overly dovish statement that sent the euro down 0.8%, as investors pushed back their expectations of an interest rate hike in 2019.