Oh yeh, from the ECB, via the FT:
Mario Draghi startled markets on Thursday cutting interest rates to a record low and pledging to buy hundreds of billions of euros of private sector bonds in a dramatic move to save the eurozone from economic stagnation.
The euro fell to its lowest level in over a year – in the currency’s largest one-day decline since late 2011 at the height of the eurozone crisis – after what amounts to the European Central Bank’s last resort short of full-scale quantitative easing.
Mr Draghi, the ECB president, said this was the final rate cut asit unveiled its latest move to revive lending across the bloc: policy makers will start purchasing bundles of loans, known as asset-backed securities, and covered bonds in October.
Investors had been braced for more monetary stimulus since late August when Mr Draghi signalled he was prepared to take emergency measures to combat the risk of deflation. At 0.3 per cent, eurozone inflation is at a five-year low. However, Thursday’s rate cuts and the announcement of the bond purchases took analysts by surprise.
And so the euro sank, the US dollar roared and so did the Aussie (though thankfully it retraced against the USD) but still outperformed on the crosses:
The world is thoroughly helping itself to our production base as we stand by and speculate on houses.
