There's an English nursery rhyme about the grand old Duke of York, who marched his men to the top of a hill, only to then march them down again: And when they were up, they were up, And when they were down, they were down. And when they were only half-way up, They were neither up nor down. The ditty came to mind last week as ECB President Mario Draghi tried to explain the central bank's latest initiatives for stimulating the flagging eurozone economy. The bank historically has been good at signalling - some say leaking - its intentions. (And, it must be said, delivering on them.) But on this occasion Mario did not quite have his soldiers in a row. The markets rallied before his announcement, expecting Super Mario to ride to the rescue one more time. He delivered some additional easing measures, such as a 10bp cut in the deposit rate and the inclusion of regional and local currency debt in a bond-buying programme that was extended by six months. But it was much less than the market had been expecting.
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