Fernando González Urbaneja | Uncertainty, volatility, acceleration… these are common concepts, clichés in any economic presentation that abound these days. We have seen it all in real time over the last few hours. Inflation rates soaring to almost double-digit levels over the last few months have put the (independent and competent) central banks and their monetary strategies on the spot. Inflation is a monetary issue, therefore the responsibility of the…

The ECB will abruptly reduce gross purchases of corporate debt from July, from a monthly average of €8 billion of gross purchases in the first five months of 2022 to just €1.8 billion for reinvestments. With the ECB’s announcement yesterday of the end of net APP purchases as of July, a six-year period of corporate QE comes to an end (since 2016 and with the exception of 2019) and has…

Peter Allen Goves (MFS Investment) | The June ECB meeting had several new and meaningful policy announcements compared with the last meeting. In general, policy decisions were in line with Lagarde’s previously announced roadmap, but there were various hawkish twists and adjustments. In our view, the policy statement further justified curve flattening and affirmed the bear market status for euro rates, not least given the inflationary backdrop. Much of this…