European Central Bank: On auto pilot - ING

"Thanks to the June announcement of an anticipated reduction of the monthly quantitative easing purchases to €15bn after September and an end of the net purchases by the end of 2018, the European Central Bank has put itself on autopilot," ING analysts note.

Key quotes

"In fact, as long as there are no real accidents in the economy or inflation developments, the ECB can lean back and relax. No need to hint at upcoming actions, no need to prepare markets, no need to think about tweaks to its communication."

"Even though wage increases in several countries have still not found their way into higher core inflation and trade tensions or Italian fiscal policies bear the risk of increasing uncertainty, the underlying solidity of the Eurozone recovery should comfort the ECB to stay on autopilot."

"With the end of the net purchases of the QE programme in sight, the market focus will shift to the length of reinvestments and the timing of the first rate hike. Here, ECB president Mario Draghi was very clear: interest rates will remain unchanged at least through the summer of 2019. This would give him two opportunities to hike rates before he leaves office: in early September and late October. In our view, he will use at least one."