Just Don't Call it a Taper

The ECB will reduce its purchases of bonds under its $2 trillion Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) enacted last year. There’s no word on exactly how much it will reduce its purchases, nor any word on whether the slowdown will continue past the initial stage.

But, it was very entertaining listening to CNBC’s Steve Liesman trip all over his tongue while trying to avoid the word “taper,” delving into semantics when Joe Kernen pointedly asked how this wasn’t a taper.

The euro barely rallied on the “news.” ES, which had already bounced off its 20-DMA hours earlier, essentially yawned.

Given that they’re one of the most important elements of central banks’ algo signaling, this seems like a good time to do a deep dive on currency pairs.