JP Marín-Arrese | All was quiet on the ECB front for too long. Suddenly, last week it announced its intention to scale down the emergency asset-buying programme starting next month. While falling short of the tapering heralded weeks ago by Jerome Powell, it represents indeed a shift in the dull do-nothing approach followed for months and years. Once embracing quantitative easing, much later than other central banks, it proved unable…
Olivia Álvarez (Monex Europe) | The ECB delivers on market expectations and steps up the total amount of quantitative easing under PEPP purchases by €600 billion. The rise outperformed the consensus call by at least some €100 billion, bringing along a stronger-than-expected market reaction. The program firepower, worth €1.35 trillion now, is set to channel the main recovery mechanism by the ECB, which is vocally reinforcing its accommodative stance amid the current recession environment.
Intermoney | In the name of the ECB independence, Christine Lagarde, made it clear that the only guide for the institution is the fulfilment of its mandate and no resources or efforts will be spared in this task. Once the central bank has made it clear that it does not accept the authority of the German courts, it must move on towards a more political phase in which it can build bridges and provide a solution to the problem. If it does not do so within three months, the Bundesbank could find itself in a difficult legal mess.
Philippe Waechter (Ostrum AM) | The ECB has just launched a new asset purchase operation worth 750 billion euros over the period up to the end of 2020 at least. The purchases will relate to public and private securities which are eligible for the asset purchase program (APP) previously implemented by the ECB. The weight of each state in this buying program will be that of each state in the capital of the ECB. The press release suggests a lot of flexibility in interpretation.
The ECB meeting this week should be a non-event, but risks are for a hawkish surprise in tone. We will be all ears on two elements: the timeline and the motivation for the review that starts this week and finishes before the end of 2020.
J. P. Marín-Arrese | Against all odds, Draghi has secured consensus over his stimuli package by a cunny trade-off between the subdued intensity of individual measures in exchange of ample coverage. His brilliant brinkmanship as Chair of the ECB facilitates the task of his successor as Ms Lagarde can wait-and-see comfortably cushioned by a strong and comprehensive arsenal relieving her of the need to change course for many months to come.
JP Marín-Arrese | Christine Lagarde’s nomination ensures the ECB will fully preserve Draghi’s heritage. It will certainly deliver a substantive loosening in monetary policy over the coming months. Everyone expects the first move to materialise this week, probably a rate cut. Anything short of a clear message in the coming press conference would deeply disappoint the markets. Whatever happens next Thursday, more robust action will materialise before the year close.
J.L. M. Campuzano (Spanish Banking Association) | Low growth, huge inequality and the slow progress with structural reforms: these are the three problems which cause the most concern for IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. And the issues which she would like tackled at a global level in a forum like last week’s G20 meeting.
*Foto: Steven Cutts
In an internal report, the IMF has confessed to errors linked to the bailouts in which it participated during the euro crisis, according to what Ambrose Evans-Prichard tells us. Just what the euro needed: explicit recognition, in black and white, that nothing could be done about the “infamy of competitive devaluation.”
Markets, especially stocks exchanges, will continue to suffer from a slowdown in global growth. IMF managing director Christine Lagarde warned on Tuesday that expansion in EM as well as in developed ones will be “weaker” than expected in July.