The European Central Bank’s message yesterday could have been worse. Mario Draghi could have told the euro to fend for itself or shifted all his cash to Swiss francs. Instead, he followed the US and UK central banks’ line from earlier in the week, delivering no immediate boost and giving no firm promises of future action.
Markets were shocked. The Spanish 10-year bond had its worst day on record; the yield has now been worse on only three days in the euro era. Equities followed suit, with Spain’s dropping 5.2 per cent, and Italian shares down 4.6 per cent. The havens of German and UK two-year bonds hit new record low yields, while the euro plunged more than a cent and a half against the dollar.
All this merely amounts to poor communication.