Financial Times (September 13)
Mario Draghi and the ECB have done their part, but “Germany will wait until it is too late before providing a measurable fiscal stimulus.” This is the optimal “time for Europe to invest in its future,” with low inflation, zero cost of borrowing and fiscal surpluses. “German leaders know this,” but fear alarming “the good burghers of Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt. Were recession to provoke a full-blown euro-zone crisis, Berlin would of course act…. But do not expect Germany to dispatch the fire brigade before the flames have fully taken hold. What a waste.”
Tags: Borrowing, Crisis, Draghi, ECB, Euro zone, Fiscal stimulus, Germany, Inflation, Recession, Surpluses
Wall Street Journal (October 26)
The European Central Bank is now faced with “a dilemma as it edges toward higher interest rates just as the region’s economy slows and faces escalating risks, from international trade tensions to a European dispute over Italy’s budget.” For now, President Mario Draghi has no plans to change course as the ECB seeks to “phase out easy-money policies.”
Tags: Budget, Dilemma, Draghi, ECB, Economy, Interest rates, Italy, QE, Risks, Trade tensions
Wall Street Journal (April 21)
“For Europe to grow faster, the political class will eventually have to stop looking to the ECB as the growth engine of first and last resort.” On Thursday, Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, was unusually blunt in his criticism of other European politicians because they “have used the relief of low interest rates as an excuse not to do reforms.”
Tags: Blunt, Criticism, Draghi, ECB, Europe, Excuse, Growth engine, Interest rates, Politicians, Reforms
Wall Street Journal (February 23)
Europe is again sputtering, which is the “cost of ignoring Mario Draghi’s pleas for reforms.” Quantitative easing “without accompanying policy reforms such as looser labor-market rules and liberalized product markets is losing traction fast. Only those reforms could boost European resilience in the face of global developments such as China’s slowdown that weigh on growth.”
Tags: China, Draghi, Europe, Growth, Labor-market rules, Quantitative easing, Reforms, Resilience, Slowdown, Sputtering
Wall Street Journal (January 21)
“Amid China’s economic tremors, political uncertainty in the U.S. and policy sclerosis in Europe, ECB President Mario Draghi is the only policy maker in town who seems determined to keep the party going.” While the European Central Bank (ECB) left rates and its quantitative easing program unchanged, Draghi the “lonely agent of good cheer” suggested the ECB would review its policy, possibly easing the spigot as early as March.
Wall Street Journal (March 5)
The European Central Bank (ECB) hasn’t even actually started its quantitative easing (QE) activities. Somehow, however, its QE program “is working before it has even begun.” The euro has fallen 20% since last summer and, this week, dropped to $1.10, an eleven year low. How? “As investors came to view QE as inevitable, prices responded, especially the price of the euro. As a result of Mr. Draghi’s open-mouth operations to talk down the euro—coupled with an expectation that interest rates might rise soon in the U.S.—the euro has declined steadily against the dollar and other currencies.” Whether the actual QE program will be able to duplicate this pregame success remains to be seen.
Tags: Currencies, Dollar, Draghi, ECB, euro, Interest rates, Investors, Quantitative easing, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (June 6)
Mario Draghi is again being pressed “to rescue Europe’s politicians from their own economic failures. If only the politicians would give him pro-growth economic reform in return for all of his monetary exertions.” Under Draghi’s leadership, the EU Central Bank taken additional measures to stimulate the economy, including charging banks interest on funds deposited with the central bank, in the hope that bankers will be more inclined to lend their funds to businesses and individuals.
Tags: Banks, Draghi, Economy, EU Central Bank, Europe, Failures, Growth, Interest, Lending, Monetary stimulus, Politicians, Reform
Financial Times (April 8)
“Whatever the thundering herd of investors may think, it is too soon to declare that Mr Draghi has won the war for the euro. The eurozone still faces deep underlying economic and political problems that are beyond the control of the president of the ECB and his colleagues.”
Tags: Colleagues, Draghi, ECB, Economic, euro, eurozone, Herd, Investors, Political, President, Problems
Forbes (April 4, 2013)
“Quantitative easing is a global craze, and now a man named Kuroda is showing Bernanke and Draghi how to do it big time….While markets expected Kuroda’s BoJ to make a bold move, the size of the purchases and the wide array of financial assets the central bank plans to stock up on came as a surprise, boosting Japanese stocks and sending the Nikkei 225 higher by 2.2%.”
Tags: Bernanke, BOJ, Central bank, Draghi, Japan, Kuroda, Nikkei, Quantitative easing, Stocks
Wall Street Journal (August 2)
Last week, European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi was prepared to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro. This week, he
“dashed hopes… unleashing a global selloff.” His “apparent backtracking on ECB intervention illustrates the challenge he faces in managing the central bank’s biggest shareholder, Germany.”
Last week, European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi was prepared to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro. This week, he
“dashed hopes… unleashing a global selloff.” His “apparent backtracking on ECB intervention illustrates the challenge he faces in managing the central bank’s biggest shareholder, Germany.”
