With the purchases, the Governing Council aims to clearly signal its determination to achieve its goal of price stability. It wants to put further downward pressure on interest rates in the euro area and expects corporations and private households to make use of the favourable interest rate environment to issue bonds or take up loans.
Employment has continued to expand as job losses in manufacturing and residential construction have been more than offset by gains in other sectors, notably health care, leisure and hospitality, and professional and technical services, and unemployment remains low by historical standards.