Euro-zone Assessment

Alex Patelis of Merrill Lynch(MER) says the Bank of England's new lending facility for banks is unprecedented.It is remarkable that they established it after having warned of the moral hazard of such a move.Mr.Patelis is relatively positive about the Euro-zone.In the Euro-zone,homes are not as important in financing.The English-speaking countries are more dependent on housing for that purpose.While the Bank of England will have to cut interest rates twice more this year,the European Central Bank is on hold for the foreseeable future,in Mr.Patelis' view.Euro-zone inflation for March was at 3.6%,so the ECB is quite reluctant to risk any increase of it by cutting rates.