Despite the unprecedented increase in the ECB’s asset purchase program, the spread of Southern Europe sovereign bonds versus German ones is rising. The ECB balance sheet has soared to more than 42% of the eurozone’s GDP, compared to the Fed 27% vs U.S. GDP. However, at the same time, excess liquidity has ballooned to more than 2.1 trillion euros. The ECB has been implementing aggressive asset purchases as well as negative rates for years, and the reality is that the eurozone economy has remained weak and close to rstagnation already in the fourth quarter of 2019. The main problem of the eurozone is that most ... (full story)