No alarms and no surprises…

Editorial While the ECB, the OECD and the Fed all shared a less pessimistic message on the economic outlook, the much-awaited announcements by major developed countries central banks this week did not deliver any surprises. The Fed did not completely meet market expectations despite a fairly dovish press release (zero dot plot until 2023), and the BoJ kept monetary policy unchanged while suggesting that a yield curve control policy could be implemented. Only the BoE hardened its tone by announcing that it has seriously examined the possibility of implementing negative rates. However, on the pandemic front, alarms are going off in Europe where next week we will closely monitor the PMIs to see if, as we expect, the recovery in activity is consolidating.