In European Equity Markets the pan-European Stoxx 600 pushed higher to close 1.4 percent in the green, despite negative trade in the morning. All major bourses and business sectors were positive. The ECB outlined plans to end its massive stimulus program by the end of 2018, but also claimed interest rates won’t likely budge for more than a year. Both France’s CAC and the German DAX closed up approximately 1.5 percent on the news. Volkswagen shares closed 2.2 percent to the upside, though they were negative earlier in the session after the German car-maker was fined 1 billion euros over its diesel emissions scandal.

In Currency Markets the euro fell broadly on Thursday as the ECB planned to keep interest rates at record lows into the summer of 2019 and extended its massive bond purchase program into year-end. The euro fell 1.2 percent at $1.1645 after briefly posting its steepest daily decline against the dollar in nearly two years. Against the Japanese yen, the single currency slid 1.3 percent to 128.45 yen for its biggest one-day fall in over two weeks.  Investors now price just a 30 percent chance of a 10 basis point rate hike by July 2019, compared with a roughly 80 percent chance earlier in the day.

In Commodities Markets oil prices steadied on Thursday, but still faced pressure from evidence of rising U.S. output and uncertainty over the outlook for supply before a meeting next week of the world’s largest exporters. Benchmark Brent crude oil was up 10 cents at $76.84 a barrel, while U.S. light crude was 45 cents higher at $67.09. Brent hit a high of $80 a barrel in May but has since drifted lower, indicating investors expect the market to become better supplied in the next few months as U.S. crude production rises and as key Middle East exporters and Russia pump more.

In US Equity Markets stocks ticked higher on Thursday after the ECB promised not to raise euro zone interest rates before the middle of next year and on better-than-expected May retail sales. The S&P 500 was up 0.27 percent, at 2,783.23 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.82 percent, at 7,758.46. Seven of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, led by a 1.2 percent gain in the telecom services index. Comcast jumped 2.9 percent after the company offered Twenty-First Century Fox $65 billion to lure it away from a merger with Walt Disney. Disney also rose 1.9 percent, providing the biggest boost to the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

In Bond Markets yields across the board. Italy, the country seen as the most vulnerable to higher borrowing costs, saw bond yields down, with short-dated down 7 basis points at 0.89 percent, having been 9 bps higher shortly before the ECB statement. Italian 10-year yields were down around 2 bps at 2.80 percent. The 10-year government bond yields for Germany, the euro zone benchmark, falling around four basis points to 0.44 percent.