Europe's central bank keeps economy on life support for another year.
That's the view of the European Central Bank, which announced Thursday that it will extend its bond buying program until at least December 2017.
But the pace of purchases - currently at €80 billion a month - will slow to €60 billion a month starting in April.
Investors had expected the stimulus program to be extended by six months. But the central bank managed to surprise by reducing the program's punch while also extending it for much longer than investors had anticipated.
The euro jumped slightly against the dollar after the announcement, but dropped as investors digested the decision.
The ECB's stimulus expansion comes just before next week's key meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve. The Fed is widely expected to raise its key interest rate for the first time this year - a sign that the central bank thinks the U.S. economy is improving.
Growth has picked up across the eurozone this year, and inflation is still well below the central bank's target. The euro area grew annualized 1.7% in the third quarter.
But investors are also nervous about the political turmoil in Italy. The country's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigned this week after losing a referendum on constitutional changes.
Italian banks have a huge bad loans problem and urgently need to raise new funds.