As both France and Germany prepare for a second national lockdown, the ECB hinted that there would be another monetary stimulus in the foreseeable future, maybe as soon as December. As the bank decided to keep both its rates and wider monetary policy unchanged, in a statement it said: ‘The Governing Council will carefully assess the incoming information, including the dynamics of the pandemic, prospects for a rollout of vaccines and developments in the exchange rate’, adding, ‘On the basis of this updated assessment, the Governing Council will recalibrate its instruments, as appropriate, to respond to the unfolding situation’.
At the press conference following the update, the ECB President Christine Lagarde acknowledged that the euro bloc’s economic rebound was losing momentum ‘more rapidly than expected’. Lagarde said that the central bank will be looking at all available monetary instruments and any action would be swift. ‘We have done that in the past: We have responded very promptly, very appropriately, very heavily, some would say, to the first wave that hit the euro area economies. We have done it for the first wave; we will do it again for the second wave,” Lagarde said.
Yesterday's decision means that the ECB’s main refinancing operations, marginal lending facility and deposit facility remain at 0%, 0.25% and -0.5% respectively, and that the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program (PEPP) was left unchanged.
Lastly, with just four days to go to see who will hold the keys to the White House, it looks like Biden is holding a healthy lead of approximately 8 points over Trump according to a 10-poll average. The polls indicate that just over 50% of Americans intend to vote to the Democratic challenger. In the last election going into the final week, the polls gave Clinton a 3-point lead.