As the European Central Bank gets ready to launch its next phase of the LTRO offering tomorrow, forecasters have greatly lowered earlier estimates of banks’ participation. At one point earlier in the year, it had been expected that this offering could see demand as high as EUR1.5 trillion, well above December’s demand of nearly EUR500 billion, but analysts have reconsidered and peg the amount at around the same level as before. If, indeed, demand is at or less, analysts say that that is a positive event, indicating that banks are no longer in need of new funding sources. Read more
