Economic Notes

European concerns continued to dominate other issues.  This is unfortunate, considering that U.S. news has been looking better as of late and is perhaps underappreciated.  Japan, which has also been largely ignored, grew for the first time in four quarters.

The European Central Bank purchased €10 Billion to purchase Italian and Spanish Bonds in order to bring yields in both of those nations back below 7.0%—the often-referred-to “breaking point.”  In response to criticism he could be doing more, ECB President Mario Draghi maintained that ‘price stability’ should remain the institution’s primary objective and doing otherwise might threaten its credibility (note that many central banks, including the ECB, are subject to only a single mandate, as opposed to the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate of stable prices and maximum employment).  Of course, with such a broad mandate, a wide variety of actions could be justifiable. Read more