FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank is leaving its key stimulus programs unchanged with almost 900 billion euros of support still in the pipeline as the economy lags the U.S. and China in a drawn-out struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic. The central bank for the 19 European Union member countries that use the euro left interest rates unchanged Thursday at record lows and made no adjustments to its 1.85 trillion euro bond purchase stimulus it says will run at least through March, 2022. Just under half of that amount remains to be used in coming months. The regular purchases using newly created money _ a key power of central banks _ drive down longer-term borrowing costs for companies, consumers and governments.
