UPOD

It's the oldest trick in the policymakers' manual: Under-promise, over-deliver.  In fairness, Super Mario never really under-promised; Wednesday's 50b per month leak certainly suggested a program that was larger than the prevailing consensus.  But by comfortably exceeding that figure just 24 hours later and laying out a roadmap for at least 18 months' of purchases, Mario Draghi once again demonstrated that he is not to be trifled with.

To be sure, the Germans got their wish and segregated the vast bulk of the buying from the ECB's balance sheet; Macro Man couldn't help but notice Draghi's mention that the Bundesbank were the beneficiaries of full risk sharing (had it been required) in the depths of the maelstrom in 2008.   Whether this was a subtle dig or a history lesson is unclear; perhaps it was a little of both.

Regardless, it was a fairly assured performance from the ECB President, and when Mr. Draghi is assured, he normally gets what he wants.  So it was yesterday; although the euro took a little while to make up its mind, by the end of the day the sellers poured in, the buyers backed off, and the SNB no doubt congratulated themselves on how little they managed to lose on their 175 billion of euro denominated assets (or B.)

Looking at a monthly chart, there appears to be quite a bit of fresh air below current levels in EUR/USD.

While nothing moves forever in a straight line, of course, it certainly doesn't feel as if euro weakness has gone tabloid, as the Dollar Going Down Forever was wont to do quite frequently over the last decade and a half.  EGDF might well become over-crowded, but that will likely require more time and lower prices.

As for equities, they were all swept up by the excitement on Thursday; one can easily imagine European equity managers chairing Signor Draghi out of the village square, as the SX5E reached a post-crisis high.  That having been said, liquidity can only carry you so far in the absence of any discernible demand; everything you need to know about European equities is probably summarized in the chart below of the IBEX and DAX; no promises for guessing which is which.

And fixed income?  Let's just say that when you can be long 10 year UST versus BTPs and pick up 30 bps of positive carry, you're supposed to do that until your (appendage of your choice) falls off, aren't you?  The ECB hasn't even bought bonds yet, and those BTPs are yielding roughly 10 bps above the all time low in Treasuries.

No wonder the SNB wanted no part of buying any more.....