The tapering of securities purchases by the Federal Reserve started in January 2014 and proceeded without unforeseen consequences. At the same time, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) enhanced the clarity of its forward guidance, creating the expectations of policy rate adjustments until 2015.
In the euro area, major concerns became evident about sluggish economic growth and massive unemployment, together with inflation rates substantially below the ECB target. This generated the expectation of significant additional monetary policy easing by the ECB.