VENTURE CAPITAL POST

A large group of professional forecasters cut their outlook for euro zone inflation and growth, underlining a trend that could prompt the European Central Bank to take more policy action to kick-start the region's flagging economy.

A deepening crisis of confidence in the ruble dominated financial markets action in Europe on Friday, with another 3 percent fall meaning the Russian currency has lost more than a tenth of its value in less than a week.

U.S. stocks edged up in a volatile session on Thursday, with the Dow and S&P 500 hitting fresh record closing highs on an indication that the European Central Bank would take more policy action if needed to boost a struggling euro zone economy.

The euro zone will need another year to reach even a modest level of economic growth, the European Commission said on Tuesday, calling on Germany to help as Chancellor Angela Merkel again rejected a spending spree.

The ECB will not improve the terms of its ultra-cheap long-term loans for now, though this may change if it becomes clear that the euro zone economy is taking another turn for the worse, several sources familiar with the discussion told Reuters.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel thanked ECB President Mario Draghi for spelling out to leaders at an EU summit that governments must play a role in boosting the faltering euro zone economy, and said it was their firm intention to do so.

When Europe announced its latest health check of top banks early last year it promised a "comprehensive assessment" of how well prepared they were to withstand another financial crisis.

France and Italy will keep pressure on Germany this week to use government money to revive the euro zone's stagnating economy but in a sign of inertia, a promised list of projects to create growth will not be ready until December.

The International Monetary Fund's member countries on Saturday said bold action was needed to bolster the global economic recovery and they urged governments not to squelch growth by tightening budgets too drastically, although Germany poured cold water on the idea of a new global "crisis."

Grappling with an ailing euro zone economy and stagnant prices, the European Central Bank is hoping that help will come from something it cannot control: the value of the euro.

Asian stocks slid on Wednesday as worries about waning global growth lifted safe-haven bonds and the yen, while shoving oil prices to their lowest in more than two years.

The suddenly unstoppable U.S. dollar is posing a triple threat to American companies' profits: driving up the costs of doing business overseas, suppressing the value of non-U.S. sales and, perhaps most worryingly, signaling weak international demand.

World policymakers gather in Washington later this week to ponder how to sustain economic recovery at a time when the United States is about to turn off its money taps.

The European Central Bank will present details on Thursday of a new asset-buying plan with which it hopes to revive the flagging euro zone economy and see off the specter of deflation.

Lending to euro zone households and companies contracted for the 28th month in a row in August, though at a slower pace, putting a keener spotlight on European Central Bank efforts to get credit flowing again.