ECB Preview: Draghi To Address Bond Scarcity, Stress Full PSPP Implementation

As expected, the ECB kept all rates unchanged at its April policy meeting and now that the formalities are out of the way, all eyes turn to Mario Draghi who we assume will field quite a few questions about how he thinks the central bank is doing when it comes to monetizing the entirety of EGB net issuance on the way to breaking euro money markets and sending every piece of government paper that isn’t issued by Athens careening into NIRP-dom. Here’s Goldman’s recap of PSPP so far and their preview of the presser:

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Via Goldman:

Since March 9, when the ECB also started buying sovereign bonds, the ECB purchased a total of €52.5 billion of bonds issued by Euro area governments and some €8.5 billion of private sector debt, totaling the ECB's €60 billion monthly target of debt purchases.

ECB preview: Steady as she goes

Bottom line: We expect no change to the ECB's monetary policy stance at the April Governing Council meeting and no indication for a change in the policy stance any time soon. More specifically we expect:

Key ECB policy rates to be left unchanged.

Re-confirmation of the deposit rate of -20bp as the effective lower bound for the rate on the ECB’s deposit facility (which provides the floor for overnight rates and the yield at which sovereign debt is bought under the asset purchase programme).

Acknowledgment of the improvement in the economic outlook …

… but also a strong signal that the implementation of the expanded asset purchase programme is needed to ensure that the positive outlook indeed materialises.

I. The April meeting: Steady as she goes

The ECB Governing Council meets for its regular monetary policy meeting on Wednesday 15 April. Interest rate decisions will be announced at 12:45pm, with President Draghi's regular press conference starting at 1:30pm (all times London). The official account of the meeting will be published four weeks after the meeting.

The Euro area economy has clearly gained further momentum since the beginning of the year. The Governing Council will acknowledge this improvement in the prepared statement, as will Mr Draghi in his answers at the press conference. We think, however, that the statement will also caution against taking the upswing for granted given a wide range of potential risks. In particular we expect either the prepared statement or Mr Draghi during the press conference to stress the need for the full implementation of the expanded asset purchase programme as an important condition for the positive growth and inflation outlook to materalise. The accounts of the March meeting noted in this respect that "It was underlined that for the baseline scenario to materialise the expanded APP had to be fully implemented and supported by appropriate communication". It is also the case the accounts showed skepticism among some Governing Council members with respect to the 2017 ECB staff projection for inflation that foresee inflation going back to 1.8% that year.

When asked during the press conference whether the ECB might encounter scarcity for some bonds and hence may be forced to adjust some parameters of the programme, we expect Mr Draghi to express his confidence that the Eurosystem will not have any problems to implement the programme in full.

Mr Draghi, we think, will also reconfirm in that context the main parameters of the programme and the eligibility criteria for bonds to be purchased. While some more recent comments form Governing Council members point to concerns that the current pace of sovereign purchases may be excessive, we expect Mr Draghi to highlight the importance to be predictable in order to evade any uncertainty on the side of market participants and ultimately unwanted volatility in financial markets.

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Comments

[TeethVillage88s]

Good comparison with Trickle Down Economics and wealthy people are "hoarders" as much as they are looters.

Not all investments create jobs. That is why investment in Capital Equipment and Facilities is such an important measure. Also notice that no one mentions the Multiplier Effect any more since Capital Investment in Manufacturing is anemic.

The same qualities that make people rich make them hoarders. There is never enough money is there. And there is a payoff when you see the growth from investments. Then they can invest income in more stocks and bonds inflating the price of those assets.

I don't know if this is the chart I think it is since M1 is a limited category of Currency.

M1 Money Multiplier
2015-04-01: 0.734 Ratio (loss of 2.1 from 1985)
Bi-Weekly, Ending Wednesday, Seasonally Adjusted, MULT, Updated: 2015-04-09
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/MULT

But in 1985 it was 2.85 and the trend is a crash to .73. A huge Significant Crash occured in the 2008 Financial Crisis from 1.6 (From which the USA never Recovered!!)

Velocity of MZM Money Stock
(2014:Q4: 1.379 Ratio, Crash from high in 1981 of 3.5)
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/MZMV

Velocity of M2 Money Stock
(2014:Q4: 1.530 Ratio, Crash from 1997 2.2, data seems to show an old economy was level at 1.8)
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/M2V

Velocity of M1 Money Stock
(2014:Q4: 6.145 Ratio, Crash from 2008 at 10.6, data seems to show a flattening out in 1981 at 7.1, Bubble seems to Originate in 1997, the New Economy?)
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/M1V

So what is the New Economy, Service Economy, Financialization of Everything, US Openly Exports Jobs and Allows Mass Migration of the Illegal Kind and soon seeks to import Skilled workers at lower Wage Rates. Orders and Productivity are good to great, but Jobs just are not there any longer.

All Employees: Manufacturing
2015-03: 12,319 Thousands of Persons (High 1979 at 19.4 Million Workers, Crash was in 2000 at 17.2 Million, perhaps massive offshoring and massive outsourcing centers in 2000 with the Dot Com Crash/Tech Crash) MANEMP, Updated: 2015-04-03
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/MANEMP

Value of Manufacturers' New Orders for All Manufacturing Industries 2015-02: 468,314 Million of Dollars (Trend in Orders is very good increase from first data in 1992, proving that productivity is not the problem with US Job Participation Rate)
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/AMTMNO

Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate
2015-03: 62.7 Percent (head and shoulders chart but decline is smallish by percent 67% to 62% is only 5%, but with population growth we need 3 Million new Jobs a year to go with the 20 Million good paying jobs we lost)
Monthly, Seasonally Adjusted, CIVPART, Updated: 2015-04-03
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CIVPART

[TeethVillage88s]

Of Course the Money might just go to Asian Investments.

Draggy will just say "Who Knew!!"

In General there are no Patriots who are Wealthy, and no Government Officials or Corporate Executives that take responsibility for Bad Bank Loans, Bad Policy, causing Inflation, Deflating Currency, Low Wages and Compensation, Riots in the Street, Culture Classes and Polarized Populations due to excessive immigration, and exporting of Industry.

Bailouts are just for Corporations and are corruption writ bold.

QE in Europe looks like a Bailout or a give-away which will allow Europeans to relocate out of Europe.

[robertocarlos]

His  PSPP had some major shrinkage today.