Julia Kollewe and
Nick Fletcher
Friday 21 March 2014 13.09 EDT
206 comments
9m
There has been much talk about whether the European Central Bank would use quantitative easing, and governing council member Klaas Knot made it clear today that this would only be a last resort.
In an interview with Handelsblatt, as reported by Reuters, he said there were other measures which could be used first, even if there was a major deflationary spiral.
Updated 8m
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EU adds twelve people to sanctions list
Twelve people have been added to the European Union sanctions list following the Kremlin's seizure of Crimea. They will have their assets in the EU seized and will be banned from travelling to the union.
They include Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin and two aides to President Vladimir Putin, Vladislav Surkov and Sergey Glazyev.
— Paul Sonne (@PaulSonne)
March 21, 2014
EU sanctions include Dmitry Kiselyov, Russian state TV anchor who said Russia could turn the US to radioactive ash.
http://t.co/8Ll8mpPWGI
The full list is
here.
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Standard & Poor's has reaffirmed its B- rating on Greece with a sable outlook.
The rating is still seven notches below what is considered to be investment grade, but the agency said it believed the Greek economy was gradually rebalancing and it would grow over the next three years.
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Commenting on the confidence figures, Annalisa Piazza at Newedge Strategy said:
EMU consumer confidence has now reached a new relative high since late 2007, surpassing the relative peak registered in 2011.
Rising consumer confidence is welcome news as the EMU recovery is gaining steam only at a very modest pace and - at the current juncture - improving domestic demand is crucial for a more sustainable progress in activity.
In our view, today's outcome is mainly due to a combination of factors. First of all, the stabilization of the labour market across the major EMU economies (with a solid improvement in Germany); secondly, low inflation and low rates that help households' purchasing power and support the picture for major purchases in the future.
That said, low inflation could lead to some unwanted effects in the medium term and it remains a risk for the EMU economy as a whole. Should the current low inflation level affect inflation expectations, consumers might decide to postpone their spending plans and have a negative effects on domestic demand. As such, low inflation might turn to be negative should expectations of falling prices become entrenched. So far, such a scenario remains only a risk but we expect policymakers to continue to keep an eye on it.
The European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany. Photo: AP Photo/Michael Probst
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Eurozone consumer confidence better than expected
Away from Russia for the moment, and eurozone consumer confidence improved by more than expected in March.
Figures from the European Commission showed that the sentiment index jumped to -9.3 points, up from February's figure of -12.7 and better than the forecast -12.4.
In the European Union as a whole sentiment improved from -9.3 points in February to -6.7.
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