On Thursday 8 December, the ECB decided to extend from March to December 2017 its programme for the mass buy-back of mainly public securities ('quantitative easing' or 'QE'), but reducing the monthly pace of acquisitions from €80 billion to €60 billion.
This decision to extend the duration of the QE programme whilst reducing its scope has been interpreted by some as a signal sent out to the detractors of the highly accommodative monetary policy of the ECB, which is keeping interest rates...