Another Eurozone Crisis Ahead?!

by Michael J. Howell11. February 2013 12:43
Both the ECB’s rhetoric and its actions are strangely out-of-step with the trends elsewhere. Eurozone is again heading for the buffers and the odds of another bout of market volatility have jumped according to our latest liquidity data. The ECBs monetary stance is strangely conventional at a time when more unconventional thinking is needed. Gross liquidity provision, which gives a better indication of support for Europe’s banks, slid back to E1.5 trillion in early February 2013 from E1.67 trillion last June, and the growth of base money has slowed sharply to pedestrian annual rates. More dramatically, our monthly index of ECB liquidity provision plunged to 6.3 (‘normal’ range 0-100) at end-January 2013 from a whopping 97.4 in June 2012. This has all the ‘fire-fighting’ hallmarks of the ECBs previous crisis responses: react to banking strains by throwing liquidity into markets and then progressively withdrawing it over following months as the crisis abates. Until the next time! We restate our end-2012 comment that, in our view, the risks in the Eurozone in 2013 far out-weight the potential rewards. This was not the case for 2012, where the reward/ risk ratio was extremely favourable and the chances of some ECB action high. The problem 12 months on is exacerbated by the recent Euro strength and notably the near 25% rally versus the Yen. Germany has been the rock that has supported fragile European business over the past year, but this latest loss of competitiveness will not help German export performance. Europe’s financial problems are all about lack funding rather than insolvency: a less active ECB and a declining pool of German savings will again heighten these problems.

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