Here is a guide to phrases they were listening for as Mr. Draghi spoke on Thursday:
The European Central Bank repeated its promise to keep buying government
and corporate bonds — a form of economic stimulus — until the end of the year, “or beyond, if necessary.”
Observers of the central bank are obsessing about when in 2018 the bank might begin to wind down, or taper, those bond purchases.
Mr. Draghi described the eurozone economy as “increasingly solid” and said “downside risks have further diminished.”
But the change in tone was not so significant that it caused most analysts to recalibrate their forecasts of when tapering might begin.
While also declining to comment on American politics, Mr. Draghi said he was less worried
that the Trump administration would take measures that would interfere with world trade.
The upshot on Thursday was that the central bank’s Governing Council has become more optimistic about the eurozone economy, moving
ever so cautiously toward the day when it will begin withdrawing its stimulus measures and, eventually, raise interest rates.
But for analysts and investors — who parse every word spoken by Mario Draghi, the president of
the bank, alert to even subtle changes in language or tone — there was plenty to focus on.
At its previous meeting, the bank said that an increase in the official eurozone inflation rate, to 2 percent,
was the result of higher oil prices rather than being an indicator that the economy was heating up.
