Good observations, but I think this is bad news in the long run, at least for the overall markets, and average people. Did you see how this news cut into the initially higher prices on Wall Street? Some levels of the market are spooked by this, it would appear.

This can be viewed as the start of a process that could take negative interest rates into the broader money markets, such that people eventually can be rewarded for borrowing money, having to pay back less than than they take out. Bankers, of course, don't like this, and the only antidote to such a trend is inflation - penalizing savers (as this does) and reward borrowing borrowers by making money cheaper and cheaper going into the future. Will the next financial wave here be another round of mortgage refinancings at rates of, what, two percent?

Overall, and in my opinion, this news is not good for the unemployed, underemployed, those living on fixed incomes, etc., but good for hard assets such as commodities, especially as inflation becomes obvious.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out over time, and against an American industrial renaissance brought on by decreasing energy prices.

Strange times we live in.

VP