Draghi made an impressive announcement this morning that the Euro is irreversible and, in effect, that the ECB will do whatever it takes to save the Euro. Both EURUSD and ES have spiked up impressively this morning on the strength of that. Now this won't be the first time in history that some European has made grandiose statement that didn't stand the test of time, many will recall that a past German leader made not dissimilar statements in the 1930s that didn't work out, but be that as it may, in the short term this looks impressive.
In honor of Draghi's bold statement I am dusting off one of my favorite poems by Shelley to share with you this morning:
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away".
Why did this particular poem spring to mind? Who can say? On to the markets.
