interest rate Gaelic Storm in paragraph 7 to a range

interest rate assesses Gaelic Storm in paragraph gailic storm gathers 7 to a range of zeroto 0.25 percent instead of 0.5 percent) Stocks  |  Currencies  |  Bonds By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Much investor focus will be onEurope this week with eyes on interest rates, retail earningsand the demand for bonds. Concerns about corporate fraud, meanwhile, are rising asthe global economy deteriorates and scandals are revealed inIndia and on Wall Street. As legendary investor Warren Buffett put it: "You onlylearn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out." The key event for many investors this week will be the ratesetting meeting of the European Central Bank on Thursday, witha Reuters poll showing a majority of economists expecting ahalf-point cut to 2.00 percent. [ID:nL556716] Among major monetary authorities, however, the ECB has beenone of the most reluctant to make sharp cuts in interest ratesin part because of a strong, pre-euro tradition in Germany'spowerful Bundesbank to focus on fighting any sign of inflation. "It is dominated by northern Europeans," said Gary Dugan,chief investment officer of Merrill Lynch's wealth managementarm "They want to appear very Bundesbank-like." But with U.S.

rates now at a range of zero to 0.25 percent,Britain and Canada at 1.5 percent and Japan at 0.10 percent,the current ECB rate of 2.50 percent does stand out, even aftera record 75 basis point easing last month And the euro zone economy is increasingly suffering gaelic storm live . Eurozone economic sentiment hit an all-time low in December andexports in Germany, the largest economy, posted a record drop gaellic storm . Dugan reckons the ECB will have to cut by 50 basis pointssoon followed by another 50 in April galic storm . For investors, the ECB's decision this week will be asignpost to just how dangerous the authorities see the threatof a deepening recession gaelic music . SHOP 'TIL YOU DROP Another sign, meanwhile, will come from Europe's retailers,many of whom have trading and earnings reports this week. Amongthem are Carrefour (CARR.PA), Delhaize (DELB.BR), Ahold(AHLN.AS) and Bang & Olufsen (BOb.CO).

[WEU/EQUITY] Fund managers such as AXA Investment Managers are expectingthat consumers fearing for their jobs will have made life hardfor the retailers gaelic storm wellies . "The overall theme of Q4 has been the crisis, the crisis,the crisis," said senior strategist Franz Wenzel galeic storm . "Our hunch isthat retailers will post a total sales decline something like 5percent (from a year earlier)." The earnings season is getting under way on Wall Street,too gealic storm . Among those reporting this week are IBM (IBM.N), Intel(INTC.O) and ALCOA (AA.N) Big banks come a week later Analyst expectations for the quarter have plummeted gaelic strom . Thomson Reuters estimates that the Q4 growth rate for S&P500 .