European Central Bank heads for crunch time post weeks of holding its nerve

The ECB has said it will keep interest rates unchanged "at least through the summer of 2019"

European Central Bank officials have gone silent on monetary policy after weeks of holding their nerve in the face of waning confidence, slowing growth and mounting economic risks.

The Governing Council is just days out from its December 13 meeting, when it will probably call time on one of its major crisis tools. The buildup to the end of net asset purchases after spending 2.6 trillion euros ($3 trillion) has been anything but smooth, with multiple indicators falling and two of the euro area’s biggest economies – Germany and Italy – contracting.

Here’s what President Mario Draghi and some of his colleagues