? Draghi says ECB will “review and reconsider” monetary measures in early March meeting

? Equity markets regain strength on Draghi’s comments

? S&P500 adds 1.4%, scoring first weekly increase for 2016

? Oil prices recover, amid calls for OPEC meeting, after falling to USD 26.2 per barrel

? Yen weakens as Kuroda makes dovish, yet optimistic, comments

Negative sentiment from China continued to dampen the start of the weekly session. The dragon’s wrath shaved some 6.5% from the Nikkei 225 and 5% from the Hang Seng by Thursday. As was the case in the last couple of weeks, other markets suffered a backlash, with the DAX losing some 2.4% at some point and the S&P 500 scalping some 3.6% from its value at the weekly lows. Luckily enough, Thursday was time for the ECB to release its rate announcement. And although the central bank refrained from explicitly announcing any new policy, it did see ECB president Draghi prepare markets for the possibility of more monetary measures, as he argued it will be “necessary to review and possibly reconsider” the bank’s monetary measures in the next early March meeting for the ECB.

The Euro, obviously suffered a major blow. EUR/USD, specifically, lost over a percentage point as the comments were made, going as low as 1.0778 – a bi-weekly low. The single currency soon afterwards regained its value, going as high as 1.09. Later declines, however, and a very negative Friday session for the Euro, saw the currency pair conclude the week at 1.0799. In spite of weakening the Euro, Draghi aided equity. The DAX increased by 1.9% on the day and another 2% on Friday helped the German Index secure a 2.3% weekly increase – the first weekly gain for the year. Global equity markets also found this to be a sufficient cause to regain confidence with the Nikkei 225 recovering from the aforementioned losses to a softer -1.1% weekly and the Hang-Seng concluding somewhat mildly injured with a 2.3% weekly loss.