successful in moving an economy towards what we might call a “ good equilibrium ”. omts are ex - ante unlimited but, as i have just explained, they are not unconditional. exit from omts would take place once their objectives have been achieved or when there is a failure to comply with a programme. omts would not take place while a given programme is under review and they would resume after the review period once programme compliance has been assured. consistent with the treaty prohibition of monetary financing, the ecb will only conduct transactions on secondary markets, buying from investors and not from governments. purchases will focus in particular on government bonds with remaining maturities of between one and three years. this is in line with the traditional focus of central bank monetary operations. the ecb will accept the same treatment as private or other creditors with respect to bonds purchased in the context of omts. and the ecb will be fully transparent on its omts. we will report weekly on total portfolio holdings, and monthly on the average duration of our holdings and the breakdown by country. bis central bankers ’ speeches 3. financial market union let me now turn to the other topic you have chosen for today ’ s exchange of views, namely the financial market union. the ecb welcomes the european commission ’ s proposal for a single supervisory mechanism, which is very much in line with the statement of the euro area summit of 29 june 2012. we are looking forward to working closely with the european parliament in this field. i am confident that the excellent cooperation we have established so far will continue with matters of financial supervision. let me here focus on three issues that are key to setting the stage for the new supervisory framework in the euro area : first, the principle of separation between monetary policy and financial supervision ; second, the possible participation of non - euro area member states in the ssm ; and third, the accountability framework. on the first issue of the separation of monetary and supervisory functions, we are not entering uncharted territory. many central banks around the world – including a large majority of the national central banks in the eurosystem – combine monetary and supervisory functions. proper arrangements to prevent monetary policy being inappropriately affected by the supervisory role have been devised in several countries. i am confident that we can establish suitable arrangements in the euro area, drawing in part on their experiences. the commission ’ s proposal provides a solid basis for achieving that goal. by having the supervisory board carry out all regular supervisory activities performed

factors weighed on activity at the nation ’ s factories, whose output declined over the first half of 2019 and has been little changed, on net, since then. the february monetary policy report discusses the recent weakness in manufacturing. some of the uncertainties around trade have diminished recently, but risks to the outlook remain. in particular, we are closely monitoring the emergence of the coronavirus, which could lead to disruptions in china that spill over to the rest of the global economy. inflation ran below the fomc ’ s symmetric 2 percent objective throughout 2019. over the 12 months through december, overall inflation based on the price index for personal consumption expenditures was 1. 6 percent. core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was also 1. 6 percent. over the next few months, we expect inflation to move closer to 2 percent, as unusually low readings from early 2019 drop out of the 12 - month calculation. the nation faces important longer - run challenges. labor force participation by individuals in their 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches prime working years is at its highest rate in more than a decade. however, it remains lower than in most other advanced economies, and there are troubling labor market disparities across racial and ethnic groups and across regions of the country. in addition, although it is encouraging that productivity growth, the main engine for raising wages and living standards over the longer term, has moved up recently, productivity gains have been subpar throughout this economic expansion. finding ways to boost labor force participation and productivity growth would benefit americans and should remain a national priority. monetary policy i will now turn to monetary policy. over the second half of 2019, the fomc shifted to a more accommodative stance of monetary policy to cushion the economy from weaker global growth and trade developments and to promote a faster return of inflation to our symmetric 2 percent objective. we lowered the federal funds target range at our july, september, and october meetings, bringing the current target range to 1 - 1 / 2 to 1 - 3 / 4 percent. at our subsequent meetings, with some uncertainties surrounding trade having diminished and amid some signs that global growth may be stabilizing, the committee left the policy rate unchanged. the fomc believes that the current stance of monetary policy will support continued economic growth, a strong labor market, and inflation returning to the committee ’ s symmetric 2 percent objective. as long as incoming information about the economy remains broadly consistent with this outlook