The ECB is trying to walk a very fine line between its mandate to control the budding inflationary pressures in the euro-zone and its desire to nurture the nascent economic recovery in the region where the unemployment rates stands at nearly 10%.
The euro has been the victim of an ever widening interest-rate differential to the dollar, a dynamic that has hurt the currency over the past six months as the carry spread now stands at 175 basis points against it.