A Rumor About QE Is Rocking European Markets
European markets are reacting to rumors that the European Central Bank is planning a bigger program of asset purchases to boost the bloc's lackluster economy.
Here's the scorecard right now:
France's CAC 40 is up 1.34% Spain's IBEX is down 1.39% Italy's FTSE MIB is up 2.161% Germany's DAX is up 1.01%Reuters reported that the ECB is considering a much wider purchase of corporate bonds as soon as December. Currently the bank is buying some asset-backed securities and corporate, but there is a much smaller market for those purchases, as shown by Frederik Ducrozet at Credit Agricole.
The euro fell more by nearly a cent against the dollar, before rebounding as the rumor was dismissed by other news organizations:
The report lifted equities too, all of the eurozone's major indices are up by more than 1% so far today, but are now dipping a little.
The ECB is denying that there is anything like this on the agenda, and the Financial Times is reporting from sources that corporate bond purchases are not on December's agenda - at least not yet.
Here's Italy's FTSE MIB climbing and dropping again:
