Quote from Mr B:
for those of us who work in the OTC money market, the ECB made a big difference today.
sterling was doing over 6.25% at about 11am, then fell to the 5.80s after lunch (London time). this kind of volatility is highly abnormal for 30 year bonds let alone overnight markets. ECB stepped in.
there was just no liquidity now it's back, made life a lot easier for some colleagues of mine.
too much money chasing too many goods and you get the 1970s, but what was happening this morning was way too little money chasing too many goods (aka the 1930s) - the ECB had to step in, money market was too thin to survive. I don't have a political opinion about it, it was a necessity.
BNP also makes markets in just about everybody's commercial paper, I can see them losing their commission for that soon. Noticeable is that not only did they hint at liquidity issues but they refused to take the long side of the assets and let the investors sell. An admission of weakness if ever there was.