Just yesterday morning, we said that with the Euro rising as much as it has in recent months (or is that the dollar tumbling), the ECB's next move could - or should - be to talk down the common currency, instead of carrying the hawkish "bias" Draghi has pushed for the past half year, culminating with the Sintra mini tantrum in which the poor central banker was "misunderstood" by markets.
On this day 10 years ago, money markets started to seize up, requiring heavily-coordinated central bank action that launched an extraordinary period of central bank activity that is still in full swing today.
With every passing month, the ECB gets closer to its (QE)D-Day: the day when it runs out of bonds to buy, which according to recent calculations could take place in just a few months unless the ECB taper its bond purchases soon.
Two weeks ago we summarized the stunning impact that ECB Predit Mario Draghi's 'whatever it takes' efforts have had on European capital markets in one simple chart...
Welcome to August: you may be surprised to learn that S&P 500 futures are once again levitating, higher by 0.3%, and tracking European and Asian markets. Asian equities traded higher across the board after China's Caixin Manufacturing PMI beat expectations and printed its highest since March, refuting the decline in the official PMI data reported a day earlier, while firmer commodity prices boost both sentiment and commodity stocks across Asia and Europe.