A week ago, the ECB decided to lower its deposit rate to 0%. Today, we get the first real full frontal visual of what this really means, and how banks react under ZIRP. As the ECB just reported, overnight deposits parked in its electronic basement by member banks plunged by the most on record, or €484 billion in one session. This is a lot of money. And this money has to go somewhere. Judging by the reaction in European equities, which continue sliding, bank did not put the money in stocks. Also, judging by the continued slide in the EUR and the daily record negative yields in core European bonds, banks are aggressively buying up “safe” debt, as well as that of other currencies, to place this ZIRP cash somewhere liquid regardless of location, leading to one-time strange events like yesterday’s “WTF” 10 Year auction. If indeed the case, look for some serious insanity in the form of record Direct take down in today’s 30 Year auction. Which, along with other much more weird things, is to be expected when one has a nearly half a trillion fund flow overnight, and don’t forget to add hundreds of billions in now defunct European Money Market funds which have to be parked somewhere as well. One thing is certain: goodbye 0.25% deposit income on nearly €1 trillion in mostly German and Dutch-bank sourced cash.
ECB Deposit facility usage:
Daily change in the facility usage:
