The European Central Bank. (AP photo)Germany’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the country’s central bank must stop participating in a key European Central Bank stimulus program but gave the ECB time to demonstrate that the stimulus program is needed and appropriate. The program faced objections from conservative German academics that it exceeds the bank’s authority and violates a legal ban in the EU treaty on financing governments. The court found that the ECB did not violate a ban on central banks financing government spending. Today's court decision did not apply to that new program, but analysts have been keeping an eye on the court case in case it calls into question the ECB’s ability to intervene in markets to support the economy.-AP

Source: The Standard May 05, 2020 10:30 UTC