ECB Keeps Key Interest Rate at 1%

The European Central Bank (ECB) held its key lending rate at a record low one percent Thursday, in line with forecasts.

Attention now turns to ECB president Mario Draghi's news conference in Frankfurt at 1:30pm GMT.

Draghi is expected to highlight the success of the central bank's second long-term refinancing operation last week, which allotted €529.5 billion ($700 billion) in cheap three-year loans to eurozone banks.

Investors will look to Draghi for an indication of additional liquidity measures by the central bank and for a general update on the state of the region's debt crisis.

Earlier Thursday, the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee voted to hold interest rates at a record low 0.5 percent and made no changes to the size of its asset-purchase program, also in line with expectations.