Last week it was the Swiss National Bank bumping European stocks higher, and now it’s the European Central Bank’s turn. President Mario Draghi finally unveiled his €60 billion-per-month bond-buying program a mere two and a half years after the market started pricing it in, totally stealing the Bank of Canada’s monetary thunder (free registration required). Tardy or no, investors like easy money, because it means easy investing. Quartz’s Matt Phillips discussed all the other reasons easy money might cure what ails the euro zone’s economy:
But for my money, the most important channel through which quantitative easing works is the so-called “signaling” channel. Basically, this amounts to the central bank really convincing the markets that it means business.
Quartz is not a certified financial advisor, but if you’re an American reading this because you’ve been shuffling things around in your retirement account, know that all this extra cash floating around in Europe will probably mean you can use some of your winnings— err, returns—to take a vacation over there for cheap.
The worst-kept secret in global monetary policy was good for European stocks this week
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