Markets Wait For European Central Bank’s Decision on Quantitative Easing, Eyeing $58 Billion a Month

European markets tread water ahead of an expected announcement of Quantitive Easing by the European Central Bank. Will the program be bigger – or smaller - than the $580 billion or so already priced in? Will the risk be shared across the Eurozone, or ultimate responsibility kicked back to national treasuries, as the Germans are demanding, if something goes wrong? Spain’s debt-laden Telefonica rises on talk of a possible investment from the Qatar sovereign wealth fund. British construction and infrastructure group Balfour Beatty takes $106 million hit, but Royal Mail delivers, after smaller rival’s Christmas Eve bankruptcy.