The largest market reactions occurred after announcements in late 2008 and early 2009 associated with the initial program of quantitative easing, commonly referred to as QE1, likely at least in part because global financial conditions were extremely stressed at that time, but also perhaps because QE1 demonstrated that it was still possible to ease policy, even when the federal funds rate was constrained by its effective lower bound.
Finally, neither the discussion on monetary or fiscal policy, nor the current economic outlook should divert attention from the need to implement decisively the structural reform agenda. We note with some concern that progress is slow in many countries of the euro area.