ECB defies pressure to hold rates

February 07, 2008

There had been calls for the ECB to cut borrowing costs and join efforts to avert a worldwide economic slowdown, on a day that the Bank of England reduced rates for the second time since December to bolster the British economy, following the U.S. Federal Reserve's lead.But as investors worry about an economic slowdown, Deutsche Bank had some reassuring news that it only had small writedowns in the last quarter of 2007 despite the sub prime crisis.Joanna Partridge reports for Reuters