Draghi (unintentionally) Blunts his Own Lance

In the past week, I pointed out what I believed to be a high expansionary action on the part of the European Central Bank when I lauded their decision to "flood" the European banking system with up to a trillion in new open market operations. This kind of monetary expansion is just what Europe and especially the Periphery need in the face of sustained unemployment and low inflation, not to mention the collapsing confidence of the bond market.

But as if in an effort to stymie this achievement, Mario Draghi has gone and made it explicit that the ECB does not plan on taking any future action; the onus is once again the the debt-constrained and depressed economies of the Periphery. Awesome. Bondholders that may have taken the ECB's recent expansion as a signal that the ECB won't allow another recession and won't allow a debt-crisis are being told not to get too optimistic; the ECB might just back out yet. Check it out.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/05/us-ecb-rates-idUSTRE82418G20120305