Weekly Economic Briefings > Eurozone Weekly Economic Briefing > Eurozone

The ECB decided to both reduce the amount of asset purchases under its quantitative easing programme but also extend the horizon right the way through to the end of next year. This lent the latest policy announcement both a hawkish and a dovish air, managing to simultaneously send bond yields higher and the euro down.But the failure to at least lay the foundations for a wholesale expansion of the asset purchase programme in the future looks like a lost opportunity. The constraints imposed by the ECBs capital key and the issuer limit increasingly look binding. Beyond a decision to wind QE down gradually, we therefore believe Thursdays announcement will prove to be QEs last hurrah.