VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended lower on Wednesday, snapping a two-day rally as energy shares slid with oil prices and as investors' anxiety about the euro zone returned in the closing minutes of trading.

The European Central Bank is considering withdrawing from the "troika" of international lenders that governs Greece's international bailout, German business daily Handelsblatt reported on Tuesday.

New Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, striking a conciliatory note on debt talks after a turbulent start to office, has called the European Central Bank chief to assure him that Athens was seeking an agreement.

For months now Federal Reserve policymakers have watched the economic turmoil overseas, from Ebola to Russia to the ongoing travails of the euro, and largely held their tongue.

The Federal Reserve is expected to signal it remains on track to begin raising interest rates later this year, as the central bank shows confidence that low inflation and rising risks from abroad have yet to derail the U.S. economic recovery.

Central banks have done their best to rescue the world economy by printing money and politicians must now act fast to enact structural reforms and pro-investment policies to boost growth, central bankers said on Saturday.

Greece's leftist Syria party held onto its opinion poll lead on Friday as it campaigns to form the first euro zone government committed to scrapping austerity outright after elections this weekend.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's crusade to win back investor confidence has entrusted policymakers with the tough mission of hiking interest rates while major central banks cut them, raising the prospect of another recession in Latin America's biggest economy.

Asian stocks extended a global rally on Friday after the European Central Bank launched a landmark bond-buying stimulus program that buoyed investors' risk appetite, drove bonds higher and kept the euro pinned near 11-year lows.

Crude oil prices pared early losses but still settled lower on Thursday after a government report showed the biggest build in U.S. crude inventory in at least 14 years.

Asian shares held near eight-week highs on Thursday as investors bet on the likely size and scope of a bond-buying program the European Central Bank is poised to unveil later in the day in an attempt to revive the flagging euro zone economy.

The European Central Bank is poised to announce a plan on Thursday to buy government bonds, resorting to its last big policy tool for breathing life into the flagging euro zone economy and fending off deflation.

Asian shares held firm and the euro stayed under pressure on Wednesday as investors counted on the European Central Bank to unveil a stimulus drive, while the yen was subdued ahead of the Bank of Japan's policy announcement later in the Asian day.

Shares rose on Tuesday and the dollar gained 1 percent against the yen after China said its economy had not slowed as much as many in markets had feared.

After a head-spinning bout of volatility, next week will be dominated by one question: Will the European Central Bank take the ultimate policy leap or pull its punches?