ECB leaves rates on hold in first meeting since Brexit

Interest rates were held at 0% interest and a -0.4% deposit rate. The bank is currently buying €80bn in government and corporate bonds each month. However, there are problems over the supply of bonds available for purchase as the bank can only buy debt with a yield above the -0.4% deposit rate. Under the rules of the QE scheme, the ECB must hold the largest proportion of bonds in German debt but the yields on these have collapsed in recent weeks. Around 55% of German government debt is ineligible for purchase by the ECB. It was widely expected there would be no interest rate ch...