The euro zone economy ended 2014 with its worst quarter for over a year as further price cutting failed to significantly drive up business activity, adding pressure on the European Central Bank to act, surveys showed.
Tags: Mario Draghi
Bundesbank's Weidmann casts doubt on effectiveness of ECB's QE
Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann, an unabashed critic of the European Central Bank's quantitative easing (QE), told a German newspaper on Sunday he had doubts about the effectiveness of the ECB bond-buying plan.
After wave of QE, onus shifts to leaders to boost economy
Central banks have done their best to rescue the world economy by printing money and politicians must now act fast to enact structural reforms and pro-investment policies to boost growth, central bankers said on Saturday.
Draghi says euro zone governments need to redouble reform efforts
National governments in the euro zone need to redouble their reform efforts to create a "genuine" economic union, ECB Mario Draghi wrote in a German magazine published on Saturday after the European Central Bank's bond-buying programme was unveiled.
ECB agrees landmark sovereign bond-buy plan
The European Central Bank agreed on Thursday to embark on a quantitative easing (QE) programme, which together with its existing schemes will pump 60 billion euros a month into the euro zone economy from this March until September next year.
Latest News
The euro slumped to a nine-year low on Monday as investors bet that the prospect of inflation across the region turning negative and mounting political uncertainty in Greece will force the European Central Bank to unleash quantitative easing.
Greek leftwing opposition leader Alexis Tsipras said the European Central Bank (ECB) could not exclude Greece if it decides to move to a full "quantitative easing" program to stimulate the euro zone's faltering economy.
China's growth engine looks to have ended last year on a flat note as its massive factory sector sputtered in December, though ebbing price pressures also offered scope for more policy stimulus from Beijing and across much of Asia.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the risk of the central bank not fulfilling its mandate of preserving price stability was higher now than half a year ago, and reiterated its readiness to act early this year should it become necessary.
The euro started the new year at 29-month lows in Asia after the head of the head of the European Central Bank fanned expectations it would take bolder steps on stimulus this month, so underlining the U.S. dollar's rate advantage.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble expressed his reservations against the European Central Bank launching a bond buying stimulus program and praised Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann's arguments against such moves.
The guessing game over the timing of euro zone money printing will intensify as the European Central Bank unveils a closely watched gauge of policy in the coming week, the highlight of a calendar dominated by Europe's malaise.
U.S. stocks ended slightly lower on Thursday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi brushed off pressure for more immediate monetary policy action but said the issue would be addressed early next year.
The European Central Bank will spell out the scale of economic malaise facing the euro zone after it meets on Thursday under growing pressure to take dramatic action to prevent the bloc going into reverse.
