GET READY: The Second LTRO Is Less Than A Week Away

Simone Foxman

AP/Michael Probst

Analysts are buzzing about expectations for the European Central Bank's second three-year long-term refinancing operation, and they're diving from the enthusiasm we saw about a month ago.

 

Once again, Spanish and Italian banks in particular will likely ask the central bank for billions in cheap funding, but earlier speculation that the take-up could amount to as much as €1 trillion—well above the €489 billion ($650 billion) they asked for last time around has been scaled back.

That take-up includes both new money banks ask for from the central bank and existing, shorter-term loans from the ECB that can be rolled over to a three-year maturity.

A handful of recent expectations from the street:

Morgan Stanley (note out yesterday): €200-500 billion

Analysts polled by Reuters (from that MS note): €470 billion

UBS (via FT): €492 billion (with €300 billion in new money)

Citi (note out today): €400-500 billion

Standard Chartered (via CNBC): €500-750 billion

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