Simon Hobbs just reported there is a Die Welt story saying the French and the EU Commission, along with the US are trying to strong-arm the Germans into dumping the ECB’s single mandate and have the ECB assume responsibility for supporting European bond markets permanently. No sign of the article after a cursory scan of the website…

That would send the euro sharply lower as the idea of the ECB as a Bundesbank-like institution would be lost forever…