The ECB's final press conference of the year triggered euro selling on a combination of downward revisions in growth and inflation as well as Draghis indication that discussions over interest rates remained ongoing. The possibility for the refinancing rate to reach 0.25% without the OMT having been deployed would be deemed excessive accommodation from the ECB in the face of a reticent Spain.

But what about the bigger picture?

OMTs Durable Impact

The Outright Market Transactions program was aimed at enabling Spain to request a bailout, but it could well end up eliminating such an event thanks to the stabilizing environment created by the September announcement. The positive impact of the OMT announcement on risk metrics has been impressive to say the least:

Peripheral sovereign bond yields have fallen 25-30% from their August highs.

The Nov rebound in peripheral bond yields prompted by the post-Obama global market selloff proved relatively short-lived compared to the decline in global equities -8% in equities, -15% in 10-yr yields, -11% in oil and -6% in gold.

Even the euro's November selloff paled in comparison to equities, with a 3% decline from its Oct highs in contrast to a 6% fall in the S&P500.

What Happened to our 1.35 Target?

The euro failed to reach $1.35 in November as we predicted in September. We believe this was a case of bad timing than merely bad direction. We have not abandoned this target because of the following:

Fundamentals

Eurozone markets are no longer necessarily fair game thanks to Draghis backstop. Even if the OMT is contingent upon another countrys decision to request aid, there is always the LTRO option, which could be adjusted via duration according to the intensity required. At a time when even Troika recognized the adverse global macro picture as a factor in Greeces difficulty to meet its debt targets, there are always the tools for the ECB to use in order to contain contagion.

From a US perspective, whether the Fiscal Cliff ends up breaking out or just being avoided, the materialization or the threat of a clear deterioration in US growth (Fiscal Cliff may cause as much as 1% drop in GDP growth) will give no choice to the Fed but to resume (and possibly deepen) the policy of asset purchases. Such a US dollar-negative program is likely to be magnified by the onset of the impact on Asia and Europe (China and Eurozone GDPs may lose by 25 bps and 50 bps from their respective GDPs), giving the ECB no choice but to step up another form of asset purchases, with or without a formal request for aid.

Technicals According to our proprietary long term monthly stochastics, we expect EURUSD to rebound towards 1.32, followed by $1.33-34 nearing December. Interim downside target could extend to as low as $1.2630-50s (according to weekly oscillators) before mounting a December rebound.

The ensuing reverse Head & Shoulder formation appearing in EURUSD is a classic (and rare) bullish formation, with clear delineation of: i) required preceding selloff; ii) isolated low creating a left shoulder; iii) renewed sell off to create a bottom or a head; iv) subsequent peak creating a right shoulder; and v) a straight neckline coinciding with trendline resistance. The theoretical target interpolated from the reverse H&S suggests $1.38-40 is viable in by end of Q1 2013.

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