And this was largely expected but it does amount to an extension of quantitive easing for a further 9 months.

Another 270 billion of assets being purchased.

Draghi referred to this in his press conference as a "downsize" rather than an explicit tapering.

So, it's interesting the language that's being used here.

Perhaps more important than the asset purchase decision is the clarity around long-term interest rates.

So, the ECB has made it clear that interest rates will remain at their current levels for well beyond the horizon of these net asset purchases.

And that has been reflected in markets immediately after the meeting.

The German 10-year bond yield is down 5 basis points, Spanish, Italian yields are down 10 basis points.

So we've had a reasonable move in the markets given that this was broadly expected by pretty much everyone—this 30 billion cut.

The Euro has fallen half a percentage, so again, you know, a similarly muted move, but probably linked to this clarity around interest rates.

We've also seen an uptick in European stocks.

The final important thing from the meeting today really was the clarity around reinvesting maturities of bonds the ECB already holds,

bearing in mind Draghi did point to this in December 2015.

At that point, no one really took much notice of it,

but now they have over 2 trillion of assets, and these are maturing on a weekly basis.

The ECB is committed to reinvesting the proceeds of those maturing bonds.

Analysts and EBS estimate that this could amount to another 100 billion of effected purchases next year.

180 billion, in 2019.

So, aside from the cut in purchases that's been announced,

30 billion is also this silent additional contribution to the market that's gonna be going on in the background.