Central bankers in the U.S. and Europe are reconciling themselves to a new normal of historically low interest rates and bloated balance sheets -- one that Japan has long since gotten used to.
The European Central Bank announced on Thursday that it will keep rates at record lows into next year, and restart a cheap loan program for banks, as a weakening economy derails its plan to withdraw stimulus. The Federal Reserve already put further rate increases on hold in January, and made clear it plans to stop reducing the $4 trillion portfolio of assets it built up fighting the financial crisis a decade ago.