Unfortunately for the bailout-starved investors, ECB head Christine Lagarde poured cold water on expectations of an imminent coordinated central bank market rescue, when she downplayed the chances of the ECB providing an imminent response to the spread of the coronavirus, which has prompted economists to slash their eurozone growth forecasts.

The ECB president told the Financial Times the ECB was monitoring the outbreak "very carefully" but said it was not yet at the stage where it would have a lasting impact on inflation and, therefore, require a monetary policy response.

"It is a fast-developing phenomenon, which requires that we monitor very carefully," said Ms Lagarde. "It is clearly not an area where a central bank has actually an opinion. It is really for the health service and health experts to give us their take . . . on the evolution and particularly importantly on containment."