The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank of the 19 European Union countries which have adopted the euro. Our main task is to maintain price stability in the euro area and so preserve the purchasing power of the single currency.
Financial Stability Review, May 2021
Foreword
This is the third issue of the Financial Stability Review (FSR) prepared in the context of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, with many euro area countries having faced a third wave of infections. As a result, a vast number of firms – particularly those in the services, leisure and travel sectors – still cannot operate normally, and the economy is still reliant upon policy support to prevent widespread unemployment, corporate insolvencies and economic contraction. The human and economic costs of the pandemic continue to accrue.
That said, vaccination programmes are progressing and offering a route out of the pandemic. Financial markets have been driven by expectations of an upswing, exemplified by a striking rally in global equity markets. We are optimistic that financial and economic conditions will bounce back. There is, however, a reality that the pandemic will leave a legacy of higher debt and weaker balance sheets, which – i
What is it with billionaires and gold?
When billionaire Sam Zell warned at the end of December that the dollar’s status as the world’s principal reserve currency was in jeopardy, it nudged something in the back of the mind about the number of billionaires over the past year who issued similar warnings. The wealthiest among us, it seems, are also the most vocal and proactive about the dangers they see dead ahead. Meanwhile, the unschooled masses utilize online investment portals from Robinhood to Schwab to dash headlong into the most wildly overvalued stock market in history.
In a recent MarketWatch interview, Charlie Munger, another billionaire and Warren Buffett’s business partner called the current stock market frenzy “the most dramatic thing that’s almost ever happened in the entire world history of finance.” He believes that “we’re in very uncharted waters. Nobody has gotten by with the kind of money printing now for a very extended pe