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The ECB stays the course. “On the basis of its regular economic and monetary analysis, the Governing Council decided to leave the key ECB interest rates unchanged, ” Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the ECB, said at a news conference. “The current rates remain appropriate,” Trichet said. “The incoming information and analysis that have become available since our meeting in early October have confirmed our expectations.” The annual inflation rate was -0.1 percent in October, according to Eurostat’s latest estimate, and it was expected to rise above zero again in the coming months, Trichet said. Medium to longer-term inflation expectations remain firmly anchored in line with the Governing Council’s aim of keeping inflation rates below, but close to 2% over the medium term. At the same time, the latest information continues to signal an improvement in economic activity in the second half of this year, Trichet said. The Governing Council expects the Euro area economy in 2010 to recover at a gradual pace, recognizing that the outlook remains subject to high uncertainty. The Governing Council also left interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility unchanged at 1.75% and 0.25% respectively. Read more

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US President Barack Obama has Rock Star appeal among the investing class, except in the USA. The Quarterly Bloomberg Global Poll of financial investors and analysts finds attitudes about the new president in Asia and Europe are overwhelmingly positive. In the US, by contrast, they are slightly negative. In Europe and Asia, 87% of respondents say they view Obama positively, compared with just 49% in the US. His standing among American investors is even lower on economic matters: only a quarter of US poll respondents rate his economic policies as “good” or “excellent,” compared with more than half in Europe and Asia. President Obama’s “stratospheric favorability ratings” outside the US after five months in office are related to attitudes about his predecessor, former President George W. Bush. “It speaks as much to the visceral distaste for George Bush outside of the US,” she says. In Europe and Asia, more than four of five poll respondents choose Obama over Bush as the president offering better economic leadership. In the US, investors pick Bush, 43% to 41%.

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The economic outlook is improving, but US stocks’ rally that began in March may run into an obstacle or two this week as investors will assess data on new and existing home sales that could point to whether the battered housing sector has bottomed, and they will keep an eye out for profit forecasts or warnings as Y 2009 Q-2 comes to a close. The US Fed is expected to leave rates unchanged after its two-day meeting ends Wednesday, but investors will check its statement for clues on the central bank’s economic outlook going forward.

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The Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Executive’s Lloyd Blankfein offered shareholders a guardedly optimistic forecast for economic recovery, saying investors are now talking about when, not if, markets will rebound. “My hope is, and if I had to guess I’d say, that business feels like it’s off its lowest ebb,” Blankfein said at the bank’s annual shareholder meeting, a day after Goldman received a clean bill of health from the US government stress tests. The former commodities trader hedged his comments, though, telling shareholders, “It’s hard to make those kinds of forecasts. You have to make them every minute, because markets are so volatile.” Blankfein said Goldman does not plan to make further job cuts.”We have no plans on the horizon for downsizing, but we’ll respond to the environment,” he said. “We don’t feel the pressure to downsize now.”

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U.S. consumer spending rose for a second consecutive month in February and sentiment edged up in March, according to reports on Friday that backed views that the worst of the recession may be over. Spending increased 0.2% after rising by an upwardly revised 1.0% in January, the Commerce Department said. The big adjustment to January’s figure, which was previously reported as a 0.6 % gain, suggested that consumer spending rebounded in the first quarter after a big drop at the end of last year, analysts said.”It looks as though spending will manage an increase of just over 1.0 % at an annual rate in the first quarter,” said Nigel Gault, chief US economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. Consumer spending, which accounts for over two-thirds of US domestic economic activity, fell at a 4.3% annual rate in the fourth quarter, the biggest decline since 1980. Spending dropped 3.8 % in the July/September 2008 period.

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The world’s leading finance ministers and central bank governors pledged last Saturday “to take whatever action is necessary until growth is restored,” suggesting that further action on monetary policy, fiscal stimulus and regulatory reform would be introduced in the months to come. Although the meeting ended without specific new commitments and no country or central bank would be forced to change any existing policy in light of the communique’, the participants representing 85% of the world’s economic output said they were pleased by the spirit of cooperation among the Group of 20 leading and emerging economies.

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