ECB primes financial markets for imminent QE

Frankfurt

THE European Central Bank (ECB) on Wednesday prepared financial markets for an imminent programme of sovereign bond purchases, with president Mario Draghi saying the bank had few other options at its disposal to counter the risk of deflation.

A day after ECB executive board member Benoit Coeure had said that the central bank's governing council was in a position to announce such a programme at its first policy meeting of the year next week, Mr Draghi upped the ante still further.