ECB to cut rates, mull 'non-standard' measures

The European Central Bank is likely to cut its key interest rate to an all-time low of 1.0 percent on Thursday and may break new ground as it seeks ways to turn back a deepening recession.
"It seems odds-on that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates again," IHS Global Insight chief European economist Howard Archer said.
UniCredit chief eurozone economist Aurelio Maccario said it was "clear to everyone that the refi (refinancing) rate will go lower but not much lower" than the current level of 1.50 percent.
Most analysts expected a cut to 1.0 percent, but did not rule out a smaller decrease to 1.25 percent.
Suspense remained over the size of a cut in the ECB's deposit rate, which it pays to banks that stash money with it overnight.
That has increasingly become the gauge for rates banks charge each other for overnight loans, but a half percentage point cut would bring it from 0.50 percent at present to zero, making the ECB's deposit facility irrelevant.
UniCredit analyst Marco Valli was one of many who expected the "depo rate" to be cut by just 0.25 points to 0.25 percent.