As the week closes, things to consider heading into the weekend include taper timing, developments in europe and the RBA Starting with Europe - last night proved how far they are from being out of the woods economically (socially/politically its even worse). Whilst i don't buy that inflation is good, it's what markets/politicians want - and will pressure ECB, especially with short term rates showing stress. Across the pond, taper timing is where the focus is, but the bigger question is being ignored - can the Fed ever end QE? They thought they'd wrap it up by early 2014 - there's no chance of that, and ignoring the PMI - employment is weakening, whatever the unemployment rate might say. Which leads to the RBA. A few people saying we're at the bottom of the cycle, but if Europe eases and the Fed can't taper (at least meaningfully), can the RBA ever hike?