There was a consensus in the market that the ECB will announce an extension of its current asset-purchase programme and so president Mario Draghi did it by expanding QE more than expected to December 2017. He also committed to do it even longer if needed.”The presence of the ECB on markets will be there for a long time,” he explained.
The financial web Bondvigilantes offers a precise review of the details of Mario Draghi’s magic words from four years ago: “Within our mandate, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me, it will be enough”.
Francesco Saraceno | Last week the ECB published its Annual Report, that not surprisingly tells us that everything is fine. Quantitative easing is working just fine (this is why on March 10 the ECB took out the atomic bomb), confidence is resuming, and the recovery is under way. In other words, apparently, an official self congratulatory EU document with little interest but for the data it collects.
Francesco Saraceno | Mario Draghi had no choice. The increasingly precarious macroeconomic situation, deflation that stubbornly persists, and financial markets that happily cruise from one nervous breakdown to another, had cornered the ECB. It could not, it simply could not, risk to fall short of expectations as it had happened last December.
Mario Draghi surprised the markets with a bold move no one expected. That said, he openly conceded his margin for manoeuvre was running out. In a sincere confession few central bankers would indulge in, Draghi acknowledged there was little room for ECB’s extra rate cuts.
The ECB’s main priority will be to fuel confidence in the financial markets and inflation will be its alibi for this. In February, eurozone CPI receded to -0.2% year-on-year and, in the short term, the region should be prepared for negative rates to continue.
Francesco Saraceno | Yesterday Mario Draghi has called once more for other policies to support the ECB titanic (and so far vain) effort to lift the eurozone economy out of its state of semi-permanent stagnation. I just have two very quick (related) comments.
Does central banks’ “communication” matter? Some analysts believe it does. Therefore, Draghi may now have to work to repair his reputation as “Super Mario”.
The Corner | April 14, 2015 | On Wednesday’s press conference, Mario Draghi is likely to indicate that ECB QE has got off to a good start operationally and price action terms in the market. Barclays analysts think cautious near-term trading is required in EGB spreads, given poor liquidity and lingering Greek worries.
The Corner | March 25, 2015 | EU data appears to show that the currency bloc is finally on the way to recovery. Figures from Spain today are likely to confirm the country’s improvement, but concerns remain about the predicament of the Greek economy.