Growth in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, will remain weak in the fourth quarter but there is no reason to fear a recession and there are signs that prospects for its vast industrial sector may be stabilising, the Bundesbank said.

Hedge funds are betting against the euro on the prospect of the ECB boosting its easy-money policy at its gathering next month.

Slumping exports sent Germany’s economy into reverse in the second quarter, with prospects of an early recovery slim as its manufacturers struggle at the sharp end of a global slowdown amplified by tariff conflicts and the fallout from Brexit.

The ECB could return to its major programme of buying bonds next year, possibly meaning interest rates would stay low for much longer, but only if Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann doesn’t get his hands on the top job at the central bank.

Mario Draghi steps down as head of the ECB at the end of October and the field of candidates to replace him has narrowed. Here are the leading contenders to take over from “Super Mario”

Some ECB policymakers are reluctant to alter their guidance on interest rates as a move could tie the hands of the bank’s next president many months before an appointment is even made, four sources have said.

The ECB has advertised for a new bank supervisory chief, looking for an expert to oversee a sector still weighed down by bad loans and weak profitability following the bloc’s debt crisis.

Last year was great for the eurozone economy, with GDP expanding by 2.3%. That is above the zone’s potential growth rate.

The ECB’s €2.3 trillion worth of asset buys propped up growth but failed to boost inflation and may have actually increased risks to financial stability, research published by the Bundesbank has shown.

Canadian financial services company TD Securities has said the pending expansion of its Irish operations puts Dublin in the spotlight as a potential location for its wider EU activities should it move its London operations in the aftermath of Brexit.

German business confidence unexpectedly rose in June to a record high, as strong domestic consumption and robust exports combined to make company executives increasingly upbeat about the growth outlook for Europe’s largest economy.

More than €350m in old Irish notes and coins is sitting in jam jars and piggy banks around the country and has yet to be cashed in.

Growth in Germany’s private sector picked up in February to reach its highest level in nearly three years, driven by humming factories, a survey showed, pointing to a strong first quarter in Europe’s biggest economy.

The ECB rejected US accusations of currency manipulation yesterday and warned that deregulating the banking industry, now being discussed in Washington, could sow the seeds of the next financial crisis.

US President Donald Trump's chief trade adviser has accused Germany of using the euro to "exploit other countries in the EU as well as the US".

Banks based in Britain will lose access to EU markets after Brexit unless the country remains in the broader European trading group that includes nations such as Norway, the head of Germany’s Bundesbank warned yesterday.

Germany’s Bundesbank has proposed reforms to streamline Europe’s response to future fiscal crises.

The German government, after years of warnings, is about to clamp down on rising home prices and mortgage lending.

Should Mario Draghi ever want to start raining down helicopter money, the ECB president is likely to struggle to get off the ground.

The European Central Bank is ready to act quickly to boost anaemic inflation in the Eurozone, its president said yesterday, offering the strongest hint yet that the bank will unveil fresh stimulus measures at its December 3 meeting.

A day after Mario Draghi presented a sobering economic outlook for the eurozone, the nervousness coursing through the ECB was underscored by a fellow policymaker.

Greek banks are set to keep broad cash controls in place for months, until fresh money arrives from Europe and with it a sweeping restructuring, officials believe.

Jubilant Greeks celebrated their democracy last night as they voted overwhelmingly against the austerity of the past five years but insisted that it is a vote for Europe.

Greece needs to strike a deal with its creditors by the end of the month to stay afloat, its government said yesterday, as investors ditched Greek bonds in a sign of growing concern about possible bankruptcy.

German central banker Carl-Ludwig Thiele cited economic data, freedom of choice and even Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky in a passionate defence of banknotes and coins, rejecting the rising concept of a “cashless society”.

Greece stepped up diplomacy with eurozone partners, yesterday, to try to avert a potentially catastrophic funding crunch this month, when it must make a big debt repayment to the IMF as cash reserves dry up.

Strong private consumption, backed by low unemployment and rising wages, will sustain Germany’s economic upswing for some time to come, despite slower recent industrial performance, Germany’s Bundesbank said yesterday.

It is generally accepted that we have a housing crisis, and insufficient social housing is forcing people into the private rental market.

Germany’s surplus does not pose a problem for other members of the eurozone, finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said yesterday, answering critics of its export-driven economy.

2015 has seen the US dollar hit new heights while the euro seems to be stuck in plummeting mode. How will investors react, asks Anatole Kaletsky.

The amount of bonds eligible for the ECB to buy under its quantitative-easing programme is poised to shrink as the purchases risk pushing more yields below zero, according to Societe Generale.

Eurozone government bonds with longer maturities surged yesterday as the region’s central banks bought sovereign debt for a second day, pushing yields closer to those on shorter-dated notes.

Has the European Central Bank gone feral? If it has, this is an appalling vista which must be dealt with. But it’s not clear how, writes Brian Lucey.

Why has Syriza triumphed in the Greek elections?

Greece’s left-wing Syriza appeared on course last night to trounce the ruling conservatives in yesterday’s snap election and could win the absolute majority it wants to fight international creditors’ insistence on painful austerity measures.

The ECB’s bond-buying decision risks deterring eurozone governments from taking steps to restore their countries’ competitiveness, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday warned fellow European leaders not to ease off on economic reforms after the European Central Bank announced bold new moves to bolster growth in the euro area.

Conversations at Davos typically focus on the thousands of wealthy and powerful folk who trek to the Alps every January for the World Economic Forum.

A landmark legal opinion this week will remind the European Central Bank of the limits it faces as it advances towards money printing, while a tumbling oil price saps inflation in debt-strained Europe.

ECB staff have presented policymakers with models for buying as much as €500bn of investment-grade assets.

As European Central Bank policy makers gather for their first meeting of 2015, the backdrop is a 0.2% annual drop in consumer prices, the first in more than five years.

Mario Draghi this week faces one of the dominant challenges for the euro-area economy in 2015, writes Catherine Bosley

A gauge of euro-area services and manufacturing signaled economic growth slowed in the final quarter of 2014, supporting calls for more stimulus by the European Central Bank.

German inflation slowed to its lowest level in over five years in December, raising pressure on European Central Bank president Mario Draghi to unveil unconventional measures later this month to ward off a deflationary spiral in the eurozone.