France's member on the ECB executive board Benoit Coeure appeared to take a softer line than his German colleague on conditions for the central bank buying sovereign debt, saying on Friday that simply support of the EU's rescue funds would suffice. Late on Thursday, European Central Bank Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen said the bank should only buy sovereign bonds if the International Monetary Fund was involved in setting economic reform programmes that should be a condition for its intervention. The ECB is preparing to lower painful borrowing costs in Spain and Italy, in the teeth of Bundesbank opposition, in ... (full story)