More pain for Italy and Spain as Draghi hopes wash down the drain

Mario Draghi has just finished giving his press conference in Frankfurt about what the European Central Bank is going to do as part of its ‘whatever it takes’ crusade to save the euro. The ECB chief described the single currency as ‘irreversible’, and perhaps it is his seemingly incontrovertible belief in its capacity to survive that led to such a lacklustre announcement.

Remember that all eyes had been on Draghi since he said this last week: ‘Within our mandate, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me, it will be enough.’ He had pointed to the rise in bond yields over the previous few days, and used a series of codewords which traders recognised as a sign the ECB was going to make an intervention in the bond markets.