Not much sign of any move towards higher deficits today. Just talk of more bank liquidity, which doesn’t matter, and more to weaken the euro, which doesn’t work either.

Hard to say why the euro has been going down, but it’s not ECB policy per se which, while meant to weaken the euro, instead continues to be ‘strong euro’ biased. So must be portfolios selling euro, maybe in response to Russia’s actions.

“French Prime Minister Manuel Valls called for more action from the ECB to lower the value of the euro.Mr Valls said: “the monetary policy has started to change”. While he called the ECB’s package of measures taken in June a “strong signal,” he also said that “one will have to go even further.”

German Finance Minister Mr Schaeuble said deficit-fueled growth leads to economic decline, signalling discord with Italy and France as euro-area policy makers seek ways to avoid deflation and spur growth. Euro-area countries that pursued austerity policies in return for sovereign bailouts are “doing much better than all the others in Europe,” Schaeuble.

ECB’s Coeure says ready to adjust monetary policy if needed: In an article published in Greek daily Ta Nea, ECB’s Coeure said that ECB’s measures so far, have contributed to stability in the euro zone while its recent decisions have ensured a particularly accommodative direction in monetary policy in the single-currency bloc. “The ECB will provide additional liquidity to banks on the condition that they increase credit directed to the real economy, and it is ready to further adjust the direction of its monetary policy, if needed,” Coeure said (Ta Nea, Reuters) ”