A two pip loss in the core inflation measure might be the icing and the cherry on the cake for Draghi

I certainly wasn't expecting that from the core number. If anything I was expecting it to come in at least unchanged and even a tad higher, based on what we've been seeing from prices in various indicators. I'm not looking for anything amazing but that drop is surprising. In reality we've only had two of the big countries reporting their Nov numbers so far. Germany and Italy were at odds with each other. Ze Germans saw HICP up a tick but the Italian's dropped 2

Neither of these numbers have been included in the Eurostat estimates.

Make of that what you will

But the result is what it is, and that's going to make up a lot of minds in both he market and among the ECB governing council. If there were any members undecided, this has probably swayed them

This was the last of three important, last minute data points that could have an influence on the ECB's decisions. Taken altogether, the balance of argument has got to be with the doves