There's a big week of meetings for markets
This week is a big one for get-togethers. We have the BOC and BOE policy meetings (Wed & Thur), and this coming weekend we have the Doha oil meeting.
Also this weekend the IMF are hosting their spring meeting where big wigs from governments and central banks will be in attendance. One of the big showdowns is going to be between German finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble and ECB head Mario Draghi.
Schaeuble has never been happy with ECB policy but most of his comments have been fairly guarded (in German terms) over the years. Now he's starting to ramp up the rhetoric.
Over the weekend it seems that Schaeuble's unhappiness over the current state of monetary policy is reaching new levels. At a prize winning ceremony on Friday, Schaeuble picked out Draghi for the reason behind some political upheaval in Germany due to the rise of anti-immigration party AfD;
"I said to Mario Draghi...be very proud: you can attribute 50% of the results of a party that seems to be new and successful in Germany to the design of this policy."
There was also a report from Der Spiegel Saturday claiming that German finance ministry sources said that the ministry would take the ECB to court if it resorted to "helicopter money". The article has since been denied by the ministry. Some of the main ECB governing council members like Praet and Constancio have already ruled out such actions.
The tone from Germany is one of increasing angst about ECB policy and that's not likely to die off anytime soon. Schaeuble has announced he will be meeting Draghi this week (not sure if during the week or weekend) and that meeting could be quite inflammatory for markets if it ends up in a row.
It's certainly a meeting I'd pay to watch.
Best of buddies
