In an opening statement approved by other members of the central bank’s governing council, Mr. Draghi said<br />that economic risks were “broadly balanced.” That was a more optimistic assessment than Mr. Draghi gave at his last news conference in April, when he said that risks to growth were “still tilted to the downside.”<br />In the meantime, unemployment has continued to fall, while growth has been better than expected.<br />The European Central Bank has said it will not touch its benchmark interest rates until it has ended<br />the bond buying program and, in any case, will keep rates low for “an extended period of time.”<br />Still, analysts have already begun speculating about when the first rate increases might occur.<br />But Mr. Draghi blunted the impact of the change when he said during the news conference that,<br />of course, the central bank can reduce rates at any time and is prepared to do so if needed.<br />There was some excitement before the news conference when the central bank, in a routine statement announcing<br />that benchmark interest rates remained unchanged, dropped a phrase emphasizing that it could reduce rates further if needed.<br />Here are some of the important points from the news conference:<br />The European Central Bank has promised to continue buying bonds at least through the end of the year “or beyond, if necessary.”<br />It is the beyond part that analysts are trying to figure out.<br />Mario Draghi, the central bank’s president, sought to address the intense interest among investors<br />and economists in how quickly the central bank will reduce its purchases of government and corporate bonds, a form of money printing known as quantitative easing.
