FRANKFURT (Reuters) – A little-noticed move by the European Central Bank is likely to encourage Spain to apply for a bailout and lessen the impact of ratings agency downgrades on euro zone debt.

Effectively, the ECB is now saying that if a country applies for European Union bailout aid, the ECB will automatically allow banks to use that country’s government bonds as collateral, even if they are rated as “junk” status.

ROME/FRANKFURT, Sept 13 (Reuters) – European Central Bank
policymakers sent conflicting signals on Thursday over the
conditions they want attached to their new bond-buying
programme, with their apparent discord playing out in public
just a week after the bank announced the plan.

The new programme has buoyed markets’ faith in policymakers’
ability to get on top of the euro zone crisis and the ECB must
be careful that internal divisions do not undermine the plan
from the outset – as happened with its previous bond-buy tool.

FRANKFURT, Sept 6 (Reuters) – The European Central Bank
agreed on Thursday to launch a new and potentially unlimited
bond-buying programme to lower struggling euro zone countries’
borrowing costs and draw a line under the debt crisis.

Seeking to back up his July pledge to do whatever it takes
to preserve the euro, ECB President Mario Draghi said the new
plan, aimed at the secondary market, would address bond market
distortions and “unfounded” fears of investors about the
survival of the euro.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank indicated on Thursday it may again start buying government bonds to reduce crippling Spanish and Italian borrowing costs but the conditions it set and the dissenting voice of its key German member disappointed markets.

In the latest move to contain the euro zone crisis, ECB President Mario Draghi indicated that any intervention would not come before September – and only if governments activated the euro zone’s bail-out funds to join the ECB in buying bonds.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Mario Draghi is leading the European Central Bank into a new policy era.

Although the Italian stuffed his “guidance” on fresh ECB action with caveats and conditions, he opened the door to a new round of policy action that could even involve quantitative easing – a bold step the ECB has previously shunned.

FRANKFURT, Aug 2 (Reuters) – With its key German member
dissenting, the European Central Bank took a heavily conditioned
step on Thursday towards a new round of bond buying to drag down
Spanish and Italian borrowing costs, but said euro zone
governments must act first.

ECB President Mario Draghi indicated any intervention would
come at the earliest in September once governments had activated
their rescue funds to buy bonds, and the countries at risk had
requested assistance and accepted tough conditions.

ROME/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Joblessness in the euro zone hit on Tuesday its highest level since the single currency was born, a further sign of economic desperation as hopes erode that the bloc will be saved by its central bank this week.

An additional 123,000 people were out of work in the euro zone in June, figures from Eurostat showed, bringing the unemployment rate to a record high 11.2 percent across the 17 countries that use the single currency.

ROME/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Tuesday that Europe was starting to see light at the end of the tunnel of the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis, belying a welter of deteriorating economic data.

As euro-zone unemployment hit a euro-era high and Spanish data showed capital fleeing its banks and retail sales falling again, Monti’s optimism was at odds with sentiment in markets, which are losing hope of swift intervention by the European Central Bank to address the region’s problems.

FRANKFURT, July 30 (Reuters) – European Central Bank
President Mario Draghi must back up his pledge to do what it
takes to protect the euro when the bank’s policymakers meet on
Thursday or else face deep disappointment from investors hungry
for – and expecting – immediate action.

In his boldest comments to date, Draghi said last week that,
within its mandate, the ECB was ready to do whatever it takes to
preserve the euro, fuelling expectation the bank could revive
its bond purchase programme as it did a year ago when it started
buying the government debt of Spain and Italy.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – European Central Bank President Mario Draghi must back up his pledge to do what it takes to protect the euro when the bank’s policymakers meet on Thursday or else face deep disappointment from investors hungry for – and expecting – immediate action.

In his boldest comments to date, Draghi said last week that, within its mandate, the ECB was ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro, fuelling expectation it could revive its bond purchase program as it did a year ago when it started buying the government debt of Spain and Italy.