Euro jumps, stocks rise as ECB keeps stimulus in place

Europe's main stock markets climbed and the euro jumped against the dollar Thursday after the ECB said it is keeping its vast armory of economic stimulus measures in place, but would revisit them in October. As European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi voiced concern over the single currency's strength, which is putting the brakes on inflation at a time when policymakers are looking to wind down stimulus measures, the euro jumped above $1.20. "The recent volatility in the exchange rate represents a source of uncertainty which requires monitoring," Draghi said. The ECB its left interest rates at all-time lows and said it would stick to its bond-buying program, but Draghi said policymakers would decide next month about the next moves, as investors are expecting a plan to taper bond purchases. "This autumn we will decide on the calibration of our policy instruments beyond the end of the year," he said. Despite the lack of concrete ECB action taken Thursday, "Draghi made it very clear that it is not a question of if but a question of when they would start tapering asset purchase," said Kathy Lien, managing director at BK Asset Management. On the other side of the Atlantic, prices on Wall Street finished little changed as market watchers eyed a second major US hurricane, Irma, considered possibly the largest in history, that was expected to pummel Florida and neighboring states this weekend. The Dow was pressured by big drops in General Electric, down 3.6 percent following a gloomy analyst report from JPMorgan Chase, and in Disney, down 4.4 percent following a tepid profit forecast from chief executive Bob Iger. Other losers included large banks, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, each down more than one percent as bond yields dipped, and insurer Travelers, which fell 1.6 percent ahead of Hurricane Irma. In Asia, stock markets had struggled to hold on to initial gains with the North Korea crisis continuing to play on investor confidence despite US President Donald Trump's deal to raise the US debt ceiling. - Key figures around 2040 GMT - New York - DOW: DOWN 0.1 percent at 21,784.78 (close) New York - S&P 500: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 2,465.10 (close) New York - Nasdaq: UP 0.1 percent at 6,397.87 (close) London - FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 7,396.98 (close) Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.7 percent at 12,296.63 (close) Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 5,114.62 (close) EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.4 percent at 3,447.66 (close) Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.2 percent at 19,396.52 (close) Seoul - Kospi: UP 1.1 percent at 2,346.19 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.3 percent at 27522.92 (close) Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.6 percent at 3,365.50 (close) Euro/dollar: UP at $1.2028 from $1.1982 Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3103 from $1.3076 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 108.43 yen from 108.87 yen Oil - Brent North Sea: UP 29 cents at $54.49 per barrel Oil - West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 7 cents at $49.09 burs-jmb/hs