On the basis of its regular economic and monetary analyses, the Governing Council decided to leave the key ECB interest rates unchanged. The current rates remain appropriate taking into account all the information and analyses that have become available since our meeting on 4 June 2009.

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in April suggests that the pace of economic contraction is slowing. Conditions in financial markets have generally improved in recent months. Household spending has shown further signs of stabilizing but remains constrained by ongoing job losses, lower housing wealth, and tight...

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is continuing the policy introduced in March whereby it implemented a firm relaxation of monetary conditions. Despite the emergence of some encouraging signs, the global economic situation remains unfavourable and further economic deterioration cannot be ruled out. In Switzerland, the economic situation is difficult; the...

Financial market sentiment had generally improved on the month, although strains remained and many spreads continued to be elevated. The publication of the outcomes of the stress tests for 19 major US banks on 7 May had been received positively. Sentiment had probably also been supported by the mounting evidence...

At the Monetary Policy Meeting held today, the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan decided, by a unanimous vote, to set the following guideline for money market operations for the intermeeting period: The Bank of Japan will encourage the uncollateralized overnight call rate to remain at around 0.1 percent.