Weekly Market Commentary 03/11/2016

This week was not very helpful to those looking for more clarity on the economy, as the data calendar was relatively bare. That said, it was clearly an eventful week on the policy front with most of the action happening overseas. The European Central Bank (ECB) announced a more aggressive assault to jump-start activity and combat deflationary trends among its struggling member economies. Some further easing was expected, but the scope and scale of the measures undertaken far exceeded expectations. Not only did it send the rate it pays on bank deposits deeper into negative territory, the central bank stepped up its quantitative easing program, expanding the volume of assets purchased from $65 billion to $87 billion a
month. What’s more, since the ECB is running short of government bonds it can legally purchase, it will start gobbling up some corporate bonds as well.