ECB Leaves Interest Rates Unchanged, Additional Measures TBA by Mario Draghi

The European Central Bank has issued a statement outlining that it left interest rates unchanged at today's meeting. The central bank's President Mario Draghi will be speaking at a press conference in Frankfurt later today at 01:30 G.M.T. representing the views of the governing council of the ECB in real time.

The euro is consolidating above 1.16, with the bulk of the market expecting a quantitative easing program announcement of some sort. The latest rumors in the run-up to the ECB meeting have been about a bond buying program totalling between €500 and €600 billion, which at this point in time should be priced into the EUR/USD Exchange rate.

If history is any guide, at previous meetings Mario Draghi has always managed to surpass market expectations for monetary policy easing measures. Should the ECB over-deliver this time around, the EUR/USD could hit an 11-year low later today.

That said, Forex Magnates sides with the expectations of the market on this upcoming meeting. We expect a plethora of EUR/USD shorts to cover positions, as the US dollar has been rallying against the euro for seven straight months.

Currently the EUR/USD exchange rate is hovering around 1.1630, close to session highs.