The euro fell from an intraday high of 1.198 to 1.185 at 10:00 am after ECB sources talked down the prospect of an early end to quantitative easing.
Bloomberg reported:
European Central Bank policy makers may not be ready to finalize their decision on next year’s bond-purchase plan until just a couple of weeks before the current program expires, according to euro-area officials familiar with the matter.
While the Governing Council is set to hold its first formal talks next week on its stimulus path for 2018, there is no appetite to rush into a decision then and the complexity of the topic means the full details of the plan might not be settled at the Oct. 26 policy meeting, the people said. They asked not to be named because such informal discussions are confidential. The risk that the decision goes to the wire on QE, currently set at 60 billion euros ($71 billion) a month of debt- buying until the end of December, reflects the major communication challenge facing the 25-member Governing Council.
Robust economic growth is bolstering calls for buying to be wound down as soon as possible, yet still-weak inflation in the currency bloc and continuing fragility in some peripheral economies are making some officials nervous of sending definite signals on how and when stimulus will be pared back.