Mario Draghi just dropped the c-word. In his address to the EU Parliament, the ECB President explained that financial-stability risks are "for the time being, contained." Having admitted that Deutsche Bank is correct that negative rates certainly hurt bank profits, Draghi remains "committed to accomodative policy." But it was ECB executive board member Benoit Coeure that spoiled the party by rejecting the narrative of ECB stock buying.
Buying stocks is “in theory possible” but the ECB is “far away from being in the place where we will need to do it,” ECB executive board member Benoit Coeure says on panel in Munich.
- “It has been done by the Bank of Japan for instance but it’s clearly not in the discussion today. We never discussed it”
- “What we are doing is exactly what must be done to bring inflation back to 2 percent. At some point we’ll start scaling it down. Not yet”
- On unconventional policies: “We don’t intend to keep them forever. When we see inflation coming back to 2 percent sustainably, we’ll start winding it down”
- “Inflation is still very low”
But all eyes were on Mario Draghi as he address EU Parliament...
- *DRAGHI SAYS 'SERIOUS GEOPOLITICAL RISKS' HAVE MATURED
- *DRAGHI: EURO AREA HAS RECOVERED IN SPITE OF GEOPOITICAL RISKS
- *DRAGHI SAYS ECB IS BASICALLY SUPPORTING EURO-AREA RECOVERY
- *DRAGHI SAYS CORPORATE BOND PURCHASE PROGRAM ALSO BENEFITS SMES
- *DRAGHI: CORPORATE BOND ISSUANCE HAS SEEN SIGNIFICANT INCREASE
- *DRAGHI SAYS ECB SEES NO BUBBLE IN ASSET VALUATIONS
And then came the c-word...
- *DRAGHI: FINANCIAL-STABILITY RISKS ARE 'FOR THE TIME' CONTAINED
- *DRAGHI SAYS RESILIENCE OVER BREXIT IN PART DUE TO BOE, ECB
Which never worked out well for Bernanke. But Draghi as always promised more...
- *DRAGHI SAYS ECB IS COMMITTED TO PRESERVING ACCOMMODATIVE POLICY
- *DRAGHI SAYS ECB COMMITTED TO ACT IF WARRANTED
Even though he admitted Deutsche Bank was correct...
- DRAGHI:BUT IN LONGER TERM NEG RATES CERTAINLY HURT BANK PROFIT
EURUSD hardly budged on any of this...