ECB set to launch massive bond sale

The European Central Bank is poised to announce a plan on Thursday to buy government bonds, resorting to its last big policy option for breathing life into the flagging eurozone economy.

Market expectations are sky-high for the ECB to unveil large-scale quantitative easing - printing money to buy government bonds - despite opposition from Germany's Bundesbank and concerns in Berlin that this could allow spendthrift countries to slacken economic reforms.

The momentous step - which comes as global economic prospects dim - has already prompted the Swiss central bank to abandon its cap on the franc, while Denmark, whose currency is pegged to the euro, was forced to cut interest rates in anticipation of the flood of money.