There are good reasons to be concerned about the medium-term outlook for euro-area growth. But that doesn’t mean the business cycle is dead. We think the conditions for a cyclical rebound in regional growth are currently better than they’ve been at any time since the global financial crisis.  

Greece is holding early parliamentary elections on January 25. A victory for the anti-austerity Syriza party would probably trigger tense negotiations with the country’s official lenders and fresh volatility in Greek government bond markets. But the expected launch of ECB QE should mitigate contagion to the rest of the periphery.

December’s negative inflation print has led to a cacophony of headlines proclaiming that the euro area has finally succumbed to deflation. We think concerns about modest declines in consumer prices are overdone. But the structural weakness of nominal growth remains a major concern.

Markets are reacting badly to Greek plans to exit its bailout program early. Uncertainties are being heightened by the prospect of early general elections. The end-result has been a sharp sell-off in Greek sovereign bonds, which has raised fresh concerns about the potential for spillover from Greek risks to other peripheral markets. 

When the European Central Bank’s Governing Council convenes tomorrow in Frankfurt, there will be plenty of talk about Mario Draghi’s recent speech at Jackson Hole. Not only did this open the door to a large-scale quantitative easing (QE) programme, it may in time be seen as a pivotal moment in the evolution of the euro area's policy framework as it attempts to fend off the forces of deflation.

This week, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced a bigger and broader package of stimulus measures than anyone anticipated. But don’t hold your breath for a material near-term boost to growth or inflation in the region.

When Mario Draghi pledged to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro in July 2012, nobody expected things to change so quickly. Peripheral bond markets have since turned around sharply, supporting the European economic recovery. But can the improvements be sustained after countries exit their bailouts?

Evolving economic challenges are transforming central banking around the world. The new monetary-policy doctrine is likely to put greater emphasis on asset-price developments. But, without a true monetary anchor, central banks could still risk a repeat of the recent boom/bust cycle.

The Bank of England appears to have moved the goalposts. After 30 years of focusing almost exclusively on inflation, monetary policy is now being more explicitly directed toward generating faster growth and lower unemployment.

Many pundits believe the German federal election on September 22 will prove a turning point in the sovereign debt-crisis. We are less convinced.