The ECB surprises markets by cutting its three main rates and announcing a programme to buy asset-backed securities and covered bonds. Has 'Magic Mario' pulled another rabbit out of the hat?
Starting in March, the programme will be broadened from private sector securities to include purchases of the euro zone government, agency and quasi-government bonds. The ECB aims to buy a total amount of EUR 60 billion each month until at least September 2016. If it ran until September 2016, the extended QE programme would total EUR 1.14 trillion (1140.000.000.000 !!!) by then.
This is not a magic trick, but an exercise in supranational leadership of the financial world in a frayed political scenario where governments and public opinion are more and more distant from the European project.
THE MAGIC HAT OF MARIO DRAGHI, 2015
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Mario Draghi - bluff or balm for the euro crisis.
Mario Draghi’s magic number.
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