The European Central Bank invited banks on Tuesday to bid for a fresh round of long-term loans it hopes will stimulate lending to businesses and reinvigorate the euro zone economy but which may see only modest take-up. The program is a key plank of ECB efforts to stave off the threat of deflation and breathe life into the euro zone economy, which stagnated in the second quarter. At 0.3 percent, inflation is running well below the ECB target of just under 2 percent. The ECB will announce how much it is granting banks in the new loans at around 5:15 a.m. EDT on Thursday, doling out the fresh cash just as the cheap ... (full story)