Speaking at a virtual panel on “unwinding QE” sponsored by the Bank of England, ECB board member Isabel Schnabel said that the war in Ukraine might justify a re-thinking of tapering.
“The shock of war hanging over Europe has clouded the global outlook,” she said. “In this environment, we need to carefully reflect on how much monetary policy stimulus is required for inflation to stabilize at our target over the medium term, so as to neither fall below 2% once the extraordinary factors related to the pandemic fade, nor to allow an extended period of high inflation to become entrenched over time.”
Meanwhile, the financial markets bought back what they had sold yesterday, as they realized U.S. and European sanctions are blunt weapons. Biden said that SWIFT was not among sanctions because the European allies were against it. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with her usual big mouth announced decisions on “energy” as hitting only oil production equipment.
Wall Street closed in positive territory yesterday and Asian stock markets were up this morning.
