Out of the fire, back to the safety of the frying pan

Guy Foster, head of portfolio strategy at Brewin Dolphin, discusses the progression of the eurozone crisis in light of the latest policy shift.

Since Mario Draghi's famous announcement that the ECB will do whatever it takes to ensure the survival of the euro, events have been moving apace. Even long-time eurozone sceptics must accept that a huge policy shift is underway and Europe is making an uncharacteristic rendezvous with economic pragmatism. As an update: primary market bond purchases by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) are to be supported by secondary market purchases by the European Central Bank (ECB). The significance of the latter dwarfs the former. The ESM and its predecessors have never been more than one ...