“There is no hint of policy change in the ECB’s statement today, leaving Lagarde with the unenviable task of juggling questions about euro strength and the Eurozone’s most recent negative inflation print for August during the press conference.
“The reality is that the ECB has a more difficult job than most central banks in stimulating the economy, with no fully-fledged federal sovereign to coordinate with. National central bank data are showing that core countries, including Germany, are proving able to monetise government spending while periphery central banks cannot. The ECB always has a real problem in trying to stimulate the periphery and, now, in supporting governments to spend.
