19 March 2020
Chris Scicluna
- With questions increasingly raised about its commitment to counter the economic and financial impact of Covid-19, the ECB announced the PEPP, a new flexible €750bn asset purchase programme to try to mitigate fragmentation risks.
Share
18 March 2020
Emily Nicol
,
Chris Scicluna
- Efforts to calm the euro area bond market are in tatters this morning following some extraordinary inflammatory remarks from Austrian central bank governor Holzmann. BTPs are selling off, and euro area stocks are plunging, raising the need for new aggressive policy sooner rather than later.
Share
12 March 2020
Emily Nicol
,
Chris Scicluna
- The ECB’s Governing Council announcement is today’s main event. Not least given the emergency actions of the Fed and BoE, we expect the ECB to unveil a package of measures. Indeed, it will certainly disappoint markets if it fails to deliver at least a rate and anew lending facility.
Share
11 March 2020
Emily Nicol
,
Chris Scicluna
- In an unscheduled (but not necessary unexpected) announcement, the BoE cut Bank Rate by 50bps to 0.25% and introduced a new Term Funding Scheme to provide incentives for banks to lend to SMEs. This comes ahead of today’s UK Budget, where the government is expected to confirm plans for significant fiscal stimulus for the first time since the Global Financial Crisis, and probably by the most in almost three decades.
Share
09 March 2020
Emily Nicol
,
Chris Scicluna
- It was another shocking start to the week for financial markets as concerns about coronavirus continued to weigh, with global stocks in free-fall and 10Y Treasury yields rally to a new record low below 0.5%. With markets pricing in widespread monetary easing from the major central banks, the ECB’s Governing Council decision (Thursday) will be focus. The BoE might also unveil an emergency rate cut following the UK’s Budget statement (Wednesday).
Share