The European Central Bank refrained from cutting interest rates today as President Mario Draghi prepares to unveil a bond-purchase plan to save the euro.
Policy makers meeting in Frankfurt left the benchmark rate at a record low of 0.75 percent, as predicted by 28 of 58 economists in a Bloomberg survey. The remainder forecast a quarter-point cut. Investors are focused on Draghi's press conference at 2:30 p.m., when he may announce details of a plan to intervene in bond markets to help restore transmission of ECB interest rates.
"The ECB is keeping its powder dry for now and will probably cut rates next month," Jens Kramer, an economist at NordLB in Hanover, said before the decision. "All eyes are on the bond plan today. Cutting rates won't really have an impact, but it would be an additional signal that the ECB will throw its full arsenal at saving the euro."
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