Inflation in the US grew less than economists predicted, which led to a sharp weakening of the US dollar against a number of world currencies, especially against the euro and the British pound.

More details about today's decision of the Bank of England you can read here. Now, we are talking about the decision of the European Central Bank.

The decision of the ECB

As it became known, today the European Central Bank left the refinancing rate unchanged, at the level of 0.0%, which fully coincided with the forecasts of economists. The ECB also left the deposit rate at a negative level, -0.40%.

At the same time, the bank said that rates will remain at current levels at least until the summer of 2019, inclusive, which was also quite expected.

Most likely, good support for the euro along with weak inflation in the US was the decision of the European Central Bank to keep in September the volume of net asset acquisitions amounting to 30 billion euros per month, whereas from October to the end of December 2018 net acquisitions of assets will amount to 15 billion euros in month. As expected, the regulator confirmed its intention to complete the acquisition of assets in late December this year.

The euro also grew during a press conference of the ECB president, who generally praised the pace of economic growth and looked optimistic about the future.

Draghi said that the incoming economic data point to a large-scale growth, so we can expect a steady flow of inflation towards the target ECB level. The president of the ECB also expects that inflation will move to the target level even after the net purchases of assets are curtailed.

Despite current prospects for economic growth and inflation, Draghi considers it necessary to continue to adhere to the incentive program to a significant extent. If necessary, the ECB is always ready to adjust all its instruments.

At the end of the speech, the Governor of the Central Bank stated that the risks to the prospects for economic growth were generally balanced, however, at the current meeting, future changes in rates were not discussed, as it is still premature.

As for the reports of the ECB experts, they worsened their forecast for GDP growth for 2018, having revised it from the previous value of 2.1%, to 2.0%.

In 2019, the euro zone's GDP is projected to grow by 1.8%, against the previous forecast of 1.9%.

For 2020, ECB experts expect the eurozone's GDP to grow by 1.7%, against the previous forecast of 1.7%.

As for the technical picture of the EUR / USD currency pair, as I noted in my morning review, the breakthrough of resistance 1.1650 will lead to the formation of a major upward trend in risky assets, but for this it is necessary to complete the trading week above the level of 1.1650, that it would be "approved" as support. The closest targets for euro buyers are now the levels of 1.1700 and 1.1740.