The European Central Bank is poised to take action to loosen lending conditions and drag inflation out of a "danger zone" that threatens to stagnate the euro zone's fragile recovery. Inflation is running at 0.8 percent, far below the ECB's target of just under 2 percent, and banks' early repayment of bumper loans they took from the central bank is draining funds from the financial system - effectively tightening policy. Reversing this by ending operations to soak up money spent on Greek and other countries' bonds at the height of the euro debt crisis is the prime option for ECB policymakers at Thursday's meeting. ... (full story)