Europe stocks steady ahead of ECB, China surges
Source: AP-Excite
By YURI KAGEYAMA
TOKYO (AP) — European stocks were little changed Thursday ahead of an ECB policy meeting while Asian markets rose, led by Shanghai and Tokyo, as investors bet on more stimulus in China and a victory for Japan's pro-business ruling party in elections this month.
KEEPING SCORE: France's CAC 40 was steady at 4,393.24 while Germany's DAX added 0.2 percent to 9,994.50. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.1 percent to 6,722.27. Futures pointed to flat trading on Wall Street. Dow and S&P 500 futures were both little changed after U.S. stock indexes posted new highs Wednesday.
ECB MEETING: European Central Bank president Mario Draghi is expected to speak forcefully Thursday about the bank's willingness to launch more stimulus to support the struggling economy. Strong action, however, will likely wait until the first months of next year. More stimulus could include large-scale purchases of government bonds, a step which involves pushing newly created money into the economy to raise growth and inflation. It's a tool the U.S. Federal Reserve, Bank of England and Bank of Japan have all used.
THE QUOTE: "Comments from ECB members Draghi, Coeure and Constancio have raised expectations of late, but there is at best a 5 percent chance we get a full blown government bond buying program announced today. What could be announced is that the ECB intend to buy corporate bonds," said Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG in Melbourne, Australia.
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