ECB's Lane: Concerning news is that virus case numbers are creeping up

In an interview published on the European Central Bank's website, ECB chief economist Philip Lane said that rising weekly asset purchases reflect the ECB's commitment to have a substantial increase in the pace of purchasing. 

Additional takeaways

"If you average over several weeks you will see the substantial increase in a consistent way."

"As we now go into the second quarter, it’s going to be a long quarter. The concerning news is that the virus case numbers are remaining high and are creeping up."

"What we see in terms of the inflation outlook will determine how much we react in terms of the scale of asset purchasing."

"The PEPP will adjust in a flexible way to make sure that financing conditions remain favourable."

Market reaction

These comments don't seem to be impacting the shared currency's performance against its rivals in a significant way. As of writing, the EUR/USD pair was down 0.26% on the day at 1.1899.