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ECB may be running out of stimulus options but France, Spain, Italy are not
Is the ECB running out of bazookas? The latest data showing weak private sector credit flows in the euro area suggest that might well be the case. The growth of the broad monetary aggregate, M3, slowed to an annual rate of 4.7 percent in December from a recent peak of 5.3 percent in October. That deceleration was mainly a result of a sharp drop in bank credit to the private sector, which contributed only 0.9 percent to the M3 growth, compared with 1.5 percentage points in November. A closer look at the euro area's private sector loan demand indicates that lending to non-financial corporations in December virtually ... (full story)