Today's Horrible Numbers From Europe Had One Thing In Common That Basically Guarantees The ECB Will Cut Rates

The numbers weren't necessarily worse than last month, but just objectively bad.

Within the surveys, in addition to bad trends on orders and output, there was another common theme.

Here's a line form the Italian survey: "Steepest decrease in input prices for close to four years"

And from the French one: "Sharpest fall in input prices since July 2012"

Germany: "Sharpest drop in input costs since August 2009."

Spain: "Input costs fall further as raw material prices decline"

You get the picture.

The ECB tends not to be eager to act, even when data is bad. But price stability and combating deflation is clearly part of its job. When every country is seeing these steep price falls, the likes of which haven't been seen for years, it's time for them to step up.