The ECB is finally taking steps to ease pressure on Europe’s troubled secondary sovereign bond markets. If you haven’t spent all morning reading everything European Central Bank (ECB), here are links for the official technical details of the Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) and the collateral rule change:

Technical features of OMT

Measures to preserve collateral availability

I believe Europe’s periphery is still going to be an economic basket case, but it won’t go bankrupt paying creditors; a true credible lender of last resort has emerged at last. I just wish the ECB had not harped on conditionality (read: austerity) so much, but, to steal a phrase near and dear to our hearts, don’t fight the ECB! 

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