ECB governors to meet Sunday at 1600 GMT : report

ROME: Governors of the European Central Bank are to hold an emergency meeting on the debt crisis in Europe and the United States later Sunday, Dow Jones Newswires quoted sources close to the case.

"The meeting wasn't originally on the agenda, but I wouldn't call it an emergency meeting," Dow Jones quoted one of the people as saying, adding it will be held by video conference at around 1600 GMT.

An ECB spokeswoman refused to comment on the report.

Italy indicated on Friday that the ECB had agreed to start buying Italian bonds from Monday in return for a promise from the government to accelerate deficit cuts.

"Everyone is afraid our bonds will turn into scrap paper but by returning to budget balance one year early, the ECB has guaranteed that from Monday it will buy our bonds," Federalism Reforms Minister Umberto Bossi then told reporters.

Italy's stock and bond markets have been badly hit in recent weeks by investor nerves over the size of its public debt, low economic growth rate as well as tensions within the government.

Also Friday, Standard & Poor's lowered the US rating for the first time in history, by one notch from its top-flight triple-A to AA+, saying US politicians were increasingly unable to manage the country's huge fiscal deficit and debt.

It added a negative outlook, warning there was a chance the rating could be downgraded further within two years if progress is not made in balancing the United States' lopsided finances.

The eurozone debt crisis and the first US credit rating downgrade have raised fears that financial markets may plunge further Monday.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011