Is it to be QE for everyone and everywhere?

by Shaun Richards

It was only yesterday that I signed off with the heat is on and indeed it was. That was true if you looked at the fall in the UK Pound or the Norwegian Krona and even more so with crude oil. In response there was an evening emergency meeting ( by telephone) of the European Central Bank. This was because it had been on the back foot in several of its bond markets in spite of its announcement of more QE ( Quantitative Easing) bond buying as recently as last Thursday. In Italy the benchmark ten-year yield approached 3% and reignited crisis fears. So let us go to the response and the emphasis is mine.

To launch a new temporary asset purchase programme of private and public sector securities to counter the serious risks to the monetary policy transmission mechanism and the outlook for the euro area posed by the outbreak and escalating diffusion of the coronavirus, COVID-19.

We know what temporary means as for example the original emergency interest-rate cuts were supposed to be that as was the original QE and negative interest-rates. They are all still here. In a way that is the difference this time around as central bank action is supposed to be reversed a few years later when things are better but that never happened. Instead it is “More! More! More!”

This new Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) will have an overall envelope of €750 billion. Purchases will be conducted until the end of 2020 and will include all the asset categories eligible under the existing asset purchase programme (APP).

Actually they highlight my temporary point because that feels like an end date but later we get this.

The Governing Council will terminate net asset purchases under PEPP once it judges that the coronavirus Covid-19 crisis phase is over, but in any case not before the end of the year.

Number-Crunching

There are various perspectives to this as assuming they started immediately which they have then there will now be around 115 billion Euros of QE bond purchases from the ECB. There was also this for Italy.

If capital key is fully respected this means almost 10.5 bln additional monthly purchases of BTPs, for the next 9 months. #BringItON  ( @gusbaratta)

As you can see Gus was enthusiastic. I do not know if he was long the market but anyway it seemed set to offer some relief to hard-pressed Italy.

There was also something that looks set to be significant but has got a little lost in the fog.

To the extent that some self-imposed limits might hamper action that the ECB is required to take in order to fulfil its mandate, the Governing Council will consider revising them to the extent necessary to make its action proportionate to the risks that we face.

That made me thing of the capital key point made by Gus where purchases are proportionate to each country’s share in the ECB itself, This is mostly but not entirely related to the size of their economy. So clearing the decks in case Italy for example needs more and also at the other end of the scale should they run out of bonds to buy in the Netherlands or Germany.

Also there was a plan for Greece.

A waiver of the eligibility requirements for securities issued by the Greek government will be granted for purchases under PEPP.

Rather curiously there are not that many Greek bonds to buy because they have bought so many in the past! The European Stability Mechanism has a very large holding for example.

Together, the EFSF and ESM disbursed €204 billion to Greece, and now hold more than half of its public debt.

Market Reaction

It seems as though the ECB has steamed in this morning all guns blazing or as they put it.

At the same time, purchases under the new PEPP will be conducted in a flexible manner. This allows for fluctuations in the distribution of purchase flows over time, across asset classes and among jurisdictions.

This has seen the Italian bond future rally over 8 points to 138 as the ten-year yield fell to 1.7%. This is a tactical success although care is needed as only central bankers regard paying much more for something as a success. It should help Italy relax fiscal policy if it is sustained. However, there is a deeper perspective which is that some short of Italian bonds will have been screaming for the financial stretcher-bearers and may not return. Please remember that if down the road we see central bankers and their acolytes complaining of a lack of liquidity.

The situation in equity markets is not so happy because as I type this the Dax of Germany is some 1% lower although the EuroStoxx 50 is hanging onto a few points gain.

The Euro

This is off 1% versus the US Dollar at 1.083 but as we looked at yesterday we are seeing a phase of King Dollar so the picture is blurry. We maybe learn a little that the Euro has slipped against the UK Pound £ but the move is much smaller than its gain yesterday so again we learn not much. So lower yes but we have no way of knowing if the QE has contributed much here in another fail for economics 101.

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On that subject someone has announced this morning that they are buying.

The SNB is intervening more strongly in the foreign exchange market to contribute to the stabilisation of
the situation. ( Swiss National Bank)

Australia

It feels like yesterday when the Reserve Bank of Australia announced it might do QE if interest-rates were cut to 0.25%. Well this morning we learnt that beds may be burning in the land of midnight oil.

A reduction in the cash rate target to 0.25 per cent.

Followed by.

A target for the yield on 3-year Australian Government bonds of around 0.25 per cent.

This will be achieved through purchases of Government bonds in the secondary market. Purchases of Government bonds and semi-government securities across the yield curve will be conducted to help achieve this target as well as to address market dislocations. These purchases will commence tomorrow.

As I have pointed out earlier please remember the “market dislocations” bit should liquidity disappear and the RBA complains about it.

Poland

Earlier this week the Polish central bank joined the party.

NBP will also purchase government bonds on the secondary
market as part of the structural operations that change the long-term liquidity structure in the banking sector and contribute to maintaining the liquidity in the government bond secondary market.

Notice how they are getting a liquidity denial in early? Also they did this.

The Council decided to cut the NBP reference rate by 0.5 percentage points, i.e. to 1.00%

Bank of Korea

From Bloomberg.

The Bank of Korea plans to buy $1.2 billion in government bonds to stabilize markets

I would imagine the central banking dark web is full of messages saying “lightweights” after starting with such a small amount.

Comment

When the credit crunch started some central banks sung along with Huey Lewis and te News.

I want a new drug, one that won’t hurt my head
One that won’t make my mouth too dry
Or make my eyes too red

As time has passed more joined in and now the chorus is deafening as more join the QE party. I expect that there will be more in terms of volume for existing players and more new entrants because it is now about oiling the wheels of fiscal policy. When central banks were made “independent” this was not the purpose ( they are not that bright) but the traditional bureaucratic way of appointing people who are to coin a phrase “one of us” means that actually they are doing more than elected politicians would be allowed to. There is a democracy deficit hidden behind the crisis measures.

The picture is complex as there are many areas which badly need help right now. On a personal level in a short space of time I heard about 2 people losing jobs and a business owner losing work. But the history of central bank action is that it favours big not small business or the self employed. One certainty is that once we get any bit of stability the money will pour into the housing market as banks find that easy to do.

Meanwhile we are reminded that mistakes can be very expensive but not for our lords and masters.

Last Thursday: Lagarde says ECB is not there to close bond spreads

Tonight: ECB announces an extra 750 billion of QE to close bond spreads

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