That ECB Taper Might Just Sneak Up on Us
Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), takes his seat ahead of a news conference to announce the bank's interest rate decision at the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016. The ECB kept its quantitative-easing program and interest rates unchanged as suspense builds up over a possible extension of bond-buying later this year.
Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergMonetary policy works with a long time lag, we all know that. But the debate about it happens in real time.
So that's why even as the European Central Bank maintains that the risks to the economy are still “on the downside,” a rash of positive economic data has economists turning their minds to how the region's flagship stimulus policy -- quantitative easing -- should be brought to a halt.
Without a “hard stop.” That's the advice of Societe Generale Global Head of Economics Michala Marcussen.