German consumer morale drops going into September: GfK

BERLIN: German consumer morale fell for the first time in more than 1-1/2 years heading into September as shoppers grew more wary of the impact on Europe's largest economy of sanctions on Russia and other international conflicts.

European center-left launches election drive, attacks austerity

(Reuters) - European center-left parties called on Saturday for a change to austerity policies enacted to counter the euro zone crisis as they named Martin Schulz to be their candidate for next head of the European Commission.

ECB to have more room for rate hike as crisis ebbs: ZEW economist

MANNHEIM: Growing optimism that the euro zone crisis is over the worst will give the European Central Bank more room for an earlier rise in interest rates, an economist at Germany's ZEW economic research institute said on Tuesday.

Analysis: Euro zone survival? Depends on where you work

(Reuters) - Three years into an unresolved euro zone crisis, Reuters polls show a marked split on the future depending on whether forecasters are based inside or outside the currency bloc.

ECB offers no helping hand for Italy, says markets calm

FRANKFURT: Markets have settled quickly after Italy's fractured election result and any threat of contagion has been muted, the European Central Bank's chief said on Thursday, suggesting it is in no rush to take any action.

German private sector expands at fastest rate since June '11

BERLIN: Germany's private sector expanded at its fastest rate in more than 1-1/2 years in January, a survey showed on Tuesday, suggesting Europe's largest economy is on the road to recovery after shrinking in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Euro zone lending falls for 8th month

FRANKFURT: Loans to companies and households in the euro zone contracted for the eighth month running in December, showing low official borrowing costs are having little success in reviving investment and spending.

Special Report: How Mario Draghi is reshaping Europe's central bank

(Reuters) - The banker now in charge of rescuing the euro wants his top staff to take Sundays off. Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, eschews long meetings and refrains from lecturing his colleagues, senior ECB officials say.

Deposits stable in euro zone periphery in November: ECB

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Consumers and firms' deposits in banks in troubled euro zone member states remained mainly stable in November, European Central Bank data showed, indicating that worst fears of bank collapses or even a euro zone exit are receding.

Ukraine's economy nears post-election crunch time

MAKIYIVKA, Ukraine (Reuters) - Crumbling concrete pillars resemble ancient Greek temples, abandoned and overgrown, next to slag heaps that smell like piles of rotten eggs just a mile away from the center of the Ukrainian town of Makiyivka.

Half Germans support giving more powers to Brussels-poll

(Reuters) - Around half of Germans are prepared to give up some national powers to Brussels in the pursuit of a common European Union financial policy, according to a poll by Emnid for the German magazine Focus.

Europe's banks on the brink

LONDON, May 17 (IFR) - The euro zone crisis was in full swing when Jean-Claude Trichet took the podium in Berlin last October 6 for his final press conference as president of the European Central Bank.