As expected, the European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi turned super dovish in the March meeting held on March 10. In fact, the announcements were way more accommodative than what the market expected.
The bank has lowered the deposit facility rate to negative 0.4%, down from the previous rate of negative 0.3%. It also cut its main refinancing rate and marginal lending rates by 0.5% each to zero percent and 0.25%, respectively. If this was not enough, the ECB’s monthly bond purchase size has risen to EUR 80 billion from 60 billion previously.
Normally, such a move puts pressure on the currency of the region which is rolling out such an intensified monetary policy. But in case of the Eurozone, the strategy apparently backfired. We’ll tell you why by describing the surprise ETF winners and losers post ECB meeting.
Surprise Winners
CurrencyShares Euro ETF (FXE)
The euro ETF gained over 1.6% on March 10 and added about 0.01% after hours. This is because of the fact that some measure of policy easing was already anticipated by the market and securities had priced in such a move. So, after the announcement, an exaggerated reaction was missing in the market.
A more-than-expected easing could still have left a somewhat desired (by the ECB) impact on asset classes but Mario Draghi’s comment that he doesn’t feel the need to cut rates further spoiled the market mood. As a result, instead of diving, the euro started gaining strength. The currency recorded its largest single-day gain against the greenback since December (read: Top and Flop Currency ETFs YTD).
If this was not enough, investors’ have lost their risk appetite this year and euro has acted as a safe-haven currency. As a result, FXE – which looks to reflect the price of euro in USD – has returned over 2.7% in the year-to-date frame (As of March 10, 2016).
Global X MSCI Greece ETF (GREK)
Greece ETF scooped up the best gain of about 2.6% in the European space as the broad-based rebound in emerging markets helped the fund to rally. GREK was up 27.5% in the last one month (read: Can Emerging Market ETFs Sustain the Rally?).
