ECB chief Mario Draghi calls for euro 'growth compact'

It is too early for the European Central Bank to consider winding down its recent exceptional policy measures aimed at combatting the eurozone debt crisis, ECB chief Mario Draghi said on Wednesday."Any 'exit strategy' talking for the time being is premature," Draghi told a news conference when asked whether the ECB was considering putting an end to its role of firefighter in the eurozone's long-running sovereign debt crisis.Ever since the outbreak of the crisis, the ECB has taken a series of what it calls "non-standard" measures.

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi stood firm on Friday against heavy pressure to come to the rescue of the eurozone, standing by the bank's independence and anti-inflation duty.Draghi, who took over at the ECB's helm on November 1, hit back by telling governments they had a duty to get their finances in order and enact agreed measures to stabilise the crisis-wracked eurozone.Pressuring the ECB to act would undermine the bank's credibility, Draghi warned.

The euro-area economy shrank more than economists forecast in the three months through March, extending a recession to a record sixth quarter and increasing pressure on the currency bloc’s leaders to spur growth. Gross domestic product in the 17-nation eurozone fell 0.2% after a 0.6% decline in the previous quarter, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today.

THE European Central Bank was playing away today, in Barcelona rather than Frankfurt, but the result would have been the same wherever its governing council met: a no-change score, with the main policy rate left at 1%.

In spite of what you hear by the nanny-zone Eurocrats, the rifts keep getting wider and the odds the Merkozy agreement gets tossed to the dogs rises every day. Today the UK put a nail in the coffin of more money to the IMF and Sweden may do so as well. Please consider Euro zone IMF lending plan in danger as UK declines

The recovery for most of the euro zone will certainly begin in the second half of 2013 PARIS — The eurozone’s crisis is far from over and its members must consolidate their budgets and forge a banking union to put the bloc on a more stable economic footing, the leaders of the IMF and European Central Bank said on Friday.

It's a sea of red in the US and European equity markets following the victory of president Obama and statements made by ECB president Mario Draghi. US equities are now down well over 2% and most of Europe was down between 1 and 2 %. Things would not be any different if Romney had won. Regardless of who won, the global headwinds would have been the same, and the global economy is in a recession already (it's not widely recognized yet, but it soon will be).