Euro climbs as ECB chief economist signals December stimulus is a done deal

The shared currency traded higher on Thursday after the European Central Bank’s chief economist dropped a strong hint that monetary policy will indeed be eased next month.

Peter Praet is telling an audience in Frankfurt that downside risks are prevailing in the eurozone, with price pressures subdued and investment still under pressure.

Praet also considers that the ‘zero lower bound’ could be lower than previously thought. That means that lenders could be hit with sharper negative interest rates, to spur them to lend to businesses and consumers, rather than leave money at the ECB.

EUR/USD was last seen at 1.0699, up 0.36%.

EUR/GBP last traded at 0.7015, up 0.24%, while EUR/JPY was still lower 0.02% at 131.72.

Earlier, the Bank of Japan decided to keep its monetary policy unchanged, even though the economy has slipped into recession.

The BOJ policy board voted 8-1 to maintain its annual asset-purchase target at ¥80 trillion ($647.20 billion).