ECB cuts interest rates to -0.50%

The central bank also said it would restart its quantitative easing (QE) policy from 1 November, at a monthly rate of €20bn. The cut in the interest rate represents a fresh all-time low for the Continent.

In its press release, the ECB's governing council said it "expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present or lower levels until it has seen the inflation outlook robustly converge to a level sufficiently close to, but below, 2% within its projection horizon, and such convergence has been consistently reflected in underlying inflation dynamics".

Mario Draghi made the cut in what was his final ECB meeting as president before he hands the reigns over to Christine Lagarde in November.

Artur Baluszynski, head of research at Henderson Rowe, said the decision was "essentially a tax on Eurozone banks" that could "spell more trouble" for an "already weakened bank-financed economy like the Eurozone".

Baluszynski added: "Lagarde has already called for more fiscal stimulus, maybe not a bad idea with the ECB pushing on a string but politically a steep hill to climb."

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