Text mining ECB speeches to quantify sentiment changes

We have developed an i ndex that allows us to quantify the sentiment expressed in the ECB’s introductory statement, as well as general speeches from ECB board members. Our index shows the balance of optimism/pessimism of ECB statements over time. With the help of the underlying algorithm we can now quantify in an objective way sentiment changes in real time. Sentiment , the relative degree of optimism as reflected in the ECB’s introductory statements , peaked in early 2018 and has since then steadily declined, although it remain ed historically high. The April introductory statement saw again a small increase in sentiment. It remains to be seen , however, whether this small upward move continues at this Thursday’s meeting.