? EUR/USD climbs to highest since early Nov’ as ECB refrains from broadening Q.E. program

? European Equity drops on lack of Q.E. prospects

? U.S. Nov Nonfarm at 211K, helping underpin Dec’ liftoff

? USD and equity markets unimpressed by rising liftoff likelihood

Following a somewhat long while of smooth sailing, markets regained some volatility during the week, though it was somewhat expected given all the scheduled macro releases. Proving as most cardinal, the ECB’s Thursday rate announcement saw EUR/USD gain 3.06%, making this the largest daily increase for the pair since March 2009. Breaking this down, the currency pair gained a sizeable 0.5% in the minutes before the rate announcement itself, boosted by a headline on the Financial Times saying that the ECB has decided to keep interest rates at their current levels. Surprisingly, those who assumed a position on the FT’s erroneous data have actually profited from it as the EUR enjoyed a more significant boost when the ECB did release its rate announcement, announcing a relatively moderate, 0.1% cut of its deposit rate, to -0.3%, and keeping other rates unchanged. The strengthening of the Euro continued, later that day, when Draghi announced, at the press conference, the extension of the ECB’s asset purchase program until March 2017, and the broadening of assets purchased to regional and local governments in the Euro area, rather than just sovereigns. Evidently, what market participants sought was an increase of the program’s monthly purchase volume.

Stock markets have also expressed discontent from the ECB’s modest measures, quickly running into red territory. The German DAX lost 4.54% during the day, marking its worst day since September. Similarly, the CAC 40 followed with a 3.58% decrease and the London Stock Exchange’s FTSE 100 declined 2.27%. Ripples across the Atlantic summed to a 1.44% daily decline at the S&P 500, though it didn’t open in negative territory. Similarly, the Dow lost 1.42% on the day and the Nasdaq declined by 1.67%.