Mario draghi commits a trillion dollar qe plan. The ecb president did surprise market to some extent with his announcement of the ecbs version of qualitative easing. 60 billion euros a month in various kinds of purchases, in sovereign debt and assetbacked securities and covered bonds. The surprise came from the amount. There were reports it would be 50 million 50 billion euros a month. He said it would last until at least the end of september 2016. Depending on how effective it is. 80 of these purchases will be handled by the 19 National Central banks and they will be on the hook for some of their own losses. Investors did express a lot of confidence in his plan. One of them was the former chancellor current chancellor of the u. K. This is welcome action from the European Central bank. Action from a central bank is necessary but not sufficient for a european recovery. We want to see this a company by clear plans to make the continent more competitive to create jobs, to make sure our Pu
Great is it on the Rearview Mirror . You watching Market Makers. We have breaking economic news. The fed index, scarlet fu has the headlines. We are going to cover it here. The philly fed index coming out at six points, way under expectations. It is the worst since march 2013. 2013 . Pardon me, march 2014. Everyone is talking about how strong the u. S. Economy is, how great we are doing across the board. This is a surprise. I did not expect this. Horrific retail Sales Numbers yesterday for the month of december. Two pieces of Economic Data about the pace of the u. S. Economic recovery and ultimately , not just the demand of consumers. We are going to talk about the greatest buying opportunity in the month of january. Top Global Finance and business stories of the morning. Switzerland rock Financial Markets around the world. They lifted its policy of capping the swiss franc against the euro. A huge move against the dollar. Swiss stocks plunged. Switzerland is an export reliant nation by
Im stephanie ruhle. Eric was under the weather this week. Im happy to be back. Breaking news about the housing market. Home sales for december are out. Scarlet fu is in the newsroom. Unexpected decline in the number of contracts to buy previously owned homes. It comes from the National Association of realtors. A drop of 3. 7 for the month of december. That is the biggest decline in the the year. On a yearoveryear basis, pending home sales increased 8. 5 . That a small at the what economists were looking for. They were into speeding an increase of 10. 5 . S p 500, paring it is extending losses following the news. We have the 10 year yield pretty much where it was. We will continue to monitor all of this. The fed has said it is data dependent. This shows the housing industrys recovery is still on even. That a scarlet fu with the latest. Lets take you to the bulletin. Top is the stories. Shares of alibaba are getting beat up today. The stock fell as much as 7 after the Chinese Ecommerce C
House ways and Means Committee chairman, paul ryan, hosted treasury secretary jack lew in a discussion on the prospects of tax reform. First, we have breaking news a major rally in equities and in oil. Its go to the breaking news desk and our chief markets correspondent, scarlet fu. Lets head into the bloomberg terminal where i can show you what is going on. The Dow Jones Industrial average in the yellow and the s p 500 and white, reach new highs for the day. The nasdaq is in green. The dow jones has added more than 150 point and is now headed for a sixth straight day of closing up or down by at least 190 points. There is that volatility summary people warned we would see in 2015. You can credit the rise in oil for the strength in equities. Youve got rent crude set to close more than 20 above its january 13 close. That would meet the technical definition of a bull market. Brent crude in a bull market if you can believe it. Scarlet, thank you. Back to the u. S. Budget. Treasury secretar
Cap off the best quarter since 2004. We have a labor market improving. Gasoline prices which remain low. The number coming in at 93. This is university of michigans confidence reading. 95. 4 is where it was in february. The average from january through march was the highest we have seen ends the Third Quarter of 2004. If you look at the various components within confidence you want to look at the Inflation Expectations in particular. It looks like Inflation Expectations over the next year remaining at 3 , which is what economists had predicted. We will continue to look through these numbers. Overall, not seeing as much of a drop in the confidence number as had been anticipated. Matt thanks very much. Breaking the march news, the Consumer Confidence number they are at 93. Number there at 93. The top business stories of the morning. Big news out of washington. The most powerful democrat in washington will retire. Harry reid will not seek reelection. He has been the democratic leader for