So it starts - the ECB has just announced its request for bids for the next all important 3 year (1092 Day) Discount Window, pardon, LTRO operation, which is fully priced in now (and following which the market will look toward the Fed for future easing - enter Bernanke and his Humphrey Hawkins testimony tomorrow), and which will create even more negative carry for Euro banks, as the insolvent hedge fund formerly known as the ECB lends out cash at 1% and pays back 0.25% on the same cash redeposited back at the ECB. For the results of operation tune in at 11:15 am tomorrow local time or 5:15 Eastern. The only practical ... (full story)