European Central Bank

In a historic first, earlier today ECB vice president Vitor Constancio (the same one who in October 2014 explained that the European stress tests refuse to consider a scenario with deflation  "because indeed we don't consider that deflation is going to happen" just a few months before Europe got its first deflationary print since the crisis) penned an official ECB opinion piece, some might call it a blog post, titled "In Defense of Monetary Policy" just hours after the ECB's historic "all in" gamble which included the first ever monetization of corporate b

Submitted by Jeffrey Snider via Alhambra Investment Partners,

Yesterday, it was risk off, and the litany of complaints aimed at "Blooper Mario" and the ECB's disappointment was relentless; then after supposedly "reassessing" what the ECB really announced, we have shifted to a global risk on euphoria and this morning pundits can't find enough praise for "Super Mario."

And yet one strategist refuses to flop to yesterday's flip: BofA's credit strategist Michael Hartnett, who has been urging to sell this rally for the past few weeks, and who continues to do so today. Here's why.

As can be seen by the violently volatile markets themselves, over the past 24 hours there has been substantial confusion about the implications of the ECB's "all in" gamble, with the initial kneejerk euphoria leading to a rapid selloff and surge in the USD, followed by an overnight levitation in all risk assets as virtually the entire ECB move has now been faded on both sides.

Still, much confusion remains as can be seen by the following three reactions by financial pundits, two of whom even work for the same company.

Just hours after Mario Draghi unveiled another €20 billion in monthly QE, bringing the total in "unconventional monetary policy" asset purchases to €80 billion per month, and entering the market for corporate bond purchases for the first time, the ECB released the text of an interview that was conducted with the Guardian on February 18, in which the central banker not only lamented youth unemployment but said he is "worried about increasing inequality."

Here are the selected excerpts: