that's what draghi alluded to. mr. nowotny saying today it's not something that we consider in the immediate future, so the markets start to price out the down that it took yesterday. >> let's replay you that clip because i think it's important to take note of how he tries to play down the market's growing expectation that there would be a move in the deposit rate. let's listen in. >> i think the markets interpret this point. of course, there's always some kind of technical discussion about this. there's no specific plan in that direction. this is something that one really has to analyze very carefully. what the effect, side effect, psychological effect. so this is not something in the immediate future. >> what would be the immediate effects, do you think, within the banking system if that were to happen? >> quite a lot, it would have an effect on the interbank's market. also the psychological effect. this is something that has never been done before, major central banks. so i would say see this as something not happen

mr. draghi, are you the last man standing when it comes to defending austerity? and he was clearly exasperated in his response. he said, essentially, listen, i've always said when a government tries to balance his budget, it lead to a slowdown in the economy, at least in the short and medium term, but the key question is, how do you mitigate that effect. given the choice between cutting, spending, or raising taxes, government should cut spending, but guess what, they didn't. >> most governments really chose the simplest route, which is the one of raising taxes. here we are talking about raising taxes in an area of the world where taxes are already very high. so no wonder this had a contractionary effect. >> contractionary effect is central banker speak for a decline in the economy. draghi went on to say that now that the emergency has passed, maybe they can keep cutting spending and also cut taxes at the same time. maria? >> so, michelle, is this the same discussion, basically, we're having in the united states, spending cuts or tax increases in terms of getting

mr. draghi and his cohorts have done good by the financial markets.sn't benefited. >> absolutely. and i think the rate meets today. spreads tighten in spain and italy. what's going on in the real economy and the question is actually does it come down to the ecb or should it now be about fiscal policy? >> lots of arguments to say that the bandwagon rolls on to frankfurt from here and perhaps we don't get the cut here. but it does come and it comes in frankfurt. we're going to wrap it up for just a moment. but we will be back with our rate special. that's 1:00 cet, 12:00 london time and, k, if you are watching us in north america, we want you to participate in our coverage. you can watch the world channel on your own cable platform and keep in touch with mario draghi's decision coming shortly. guys, back to you. >> you can, indeed. well said, geoff. weed like to know what you think the ecb should do. let us know your thoughts on twitter or e-mail us, as well. there should be another option saying forget rate cuts and do something together so we can get

mr. draghi about we could still do something further with rates. dollar/yen, 99.09. we were up 99.45. we still have big problems pushing through 100 mark. >>> meanwhile, the dow has had 17 consecutive rises, paul. the s&p is up at a record high. actually, reporting the perfect result for investors. then we had the suggestion there was still weakness in the economy. so job creation, but no reason for the fed to taper. >> absolutely. and i think really what equity markets are responding to at the moment is not necessarily good news, but continuing weak news. because what equity markets are enjoying, if i can put it in that phrase, is the fact that central banks continued to become more accommodative, having to put more money on the table to continue to sort of keep economies stable. i don't think anybody at the moment is really thinking about inflation or growth. those nonrates and interest yields reflecting more about deflation than reflation. in that environment, you've got passette class of equities trading on earnings yields which do look very attractive. businesses are navigating t