The ECB will announce the size of its rate cut in the next 15 minutes. A 50 bp cut is the consensus but the range of forecasts is all over the low. Some see no change while others see as much as 100 bp, I suspect the ECB will take the safe route and trim 50 bp, leaving themselves plenty of room to keep easing in incremental steps.
The big news overnight was that Bank of America will become a ward of the state, like Citigroup, after threatening to abandon Merrill Lynch at the eleventh hour before closing its merger at the turn of the year.
Should the ECB cut 50 bp, look for a mild relief rally as the worse-case scenario of a 75-100 bp cut will have been avoided. It should be short-lived, however. EUR/USD trades at 1.3165 ahead of the release.