European Central Bank

The European Central Bank on Thursday left its benchmark interest rate at a half-century low of 2% amid signs that the economy in the dozen euro nations may be recovering. The $7.9-trillion euro zone economy should rebound after "subdued" growth in the first half, the ECB has said. The bank probably will keep rates at current levels until "evidence of the recovery is firm, by mid-2004," the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Thursday. That echoes expectations that the U.

The European Central Bank probably will keep interest rates at a three-year low as policymakers wait for evidence on whether the economy will recover soon, analysts said. All of the 32 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News said the central bank will leave its main refinancing rate at 2.75% when policymakers meet Thursday. Twenty expect the bank to lower borrowing costs by April at the latest.

A 62-year-old Dutch central banker with a fondness for light music and tight monetary policies is the new Alan Greenspan of Europe. Wim Duisenberg was chosen by European Union leaders at a Brussels summit to head the European Central Bank, which will dictate monetary policy and set a single interest rate for the 290 million people from Portugal to Finland who will start using the EU common currency, the euro, on Jan. 1. He almost was just another Dutchman who lost the big prize.

With the euro finally on the rise as the U.S. economic juggernaut downshifts, the European Central Bank on Friday went shopping on world markets, spending dollars to buy euros in an effort to push the value of its long-battered, long-mocked currency even higher. Over the last week, the euro has rallied from its Oct. 26 low of 82.3 cents. News of the ECB's intervention made it spike Friday to nearly 88 cents. By the end of trading in New York, the euro was at 86.