ECB ready to do 'everything to save euro'

The European Central Bank (ECB) is willing to do all it takes to save the turmoil-hit euro, President Mario Draghi said on Thursday. "The euro is irreversible and the ECB is ready to do everything necessary to save the single currency," Draghi said at the Global Investment Conference in London. Draghi also praised the progress the European Union has made this year towards finding a solution to the eurozone crisis, which is in its third year. European leaders in March signed a treaty creating a Fiscal Compact with stricter budget rules and agreed to measures that will put the eurozone on the path towards a banking union at a summit in June. It was also decided at the June summit to allow European rescue funds to be used to buy the bonds of countries facing soaring borrowing costs. "In that last six months, the eurozone has shown extraordinary progress," Draghi said. The yield spread between 10-year Italian bonds and the German benchmark dropped below the 500-point mark on Thursday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said his body was "ready to do everything necessary" to save the euro. The spread, a barometer of Italy's borrowing costs and an indicator of investor confidence in the country's ability to weather the eurozone crisis, dropped from 519 points to 495 after the statement. Italy's bonds have been under pressure amid speculation that Spain may need a bailout and on Tuesday the spread hit 537 points - a level not seen since November, when Italy's ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi was forced from office.