George Soros was also deeply scathing on Russia:

Russia has become a mafia state in which the rulers use the resources of the country to enrich themselves and to maintain themselves in power. They preserve the outward appearances of democracy such as holding elections, but there is no rule of law and no arrangements for a legitimate transfer of power. I had an insider’s view of how Putin became President and I could tell you horror stories.

Putin became popular because he established stability after a period of profound turmoil and he used a portion of the oil revenues to assure people a rising standard of living. As long as he was popular, he was reasonably tolerant of dissent as long as it remained on the margin.

But after a prearranged transfer of the presidency from Medvedev to Putin in 2012 the rising middle class joined the protests and Putin became repressive at home and adventurous abroad. He started supporting President Assad of Syria with arms on a large scale. He also felt threatened by the Arab Spring and from a Western point of view became a spoiler in the Middle East.

George Soros also warned that the spread of unresolved conflict to Europe is a new threat destabilising markets:

This has greatly increased the level of uncertainty, volatility and unpredictability both in financial markets and international affairs because financial events are extraneous to political dynamics and international affairs are extraneous to the dynamics of financial markets. So the increased interaction between the two is experienced as external shocks by both.

For example: the financial sanctions against Russia and the collapse of oil prices. Neither of them on its own would have caused a financial crisis in Russia.

This has made the job of hedge fund managers hellishly difficult. Great opportunities mostly missed or experienced as shocks.

That’s probably all from Davos tonight, but we’ll post any new developments if they occur.

Here’s our full news story:

Prince Andrew makes first public denial of sex allegations

Prince Andrew is still inside his reception, and not showing any signs of leaving, Larry Elliott reckons.

There’s a steady stream of rich and powerful people down the stairs from the first floor of the Belvedere Hotel in Davos.

One gentleman pretended (I think) to recoil in horror on hearing I worked for the Guardian, but his partner did say there was a “very good” feeling in the reception, which was also packed out.

Heather McGregor, CEO of headhunters Taylor Bennett, was also at the Duke’s party. She tells me:

I am absolutely delighted that the Duke of York went ahead with his plans to showcase three young British entrepreneurs to a key business audience. He has great convening power and he uses it for the benefit of young people who wouldn’t get this chance otherwise.

But what about the suggestion he should have kept away from Davos?

I’m sure those three young people are very pleased he didn’t.

Government minister Matthew Hancock just left Prince Andrew’s reception. He didn’t say much to the reporters hanging around in the corridors outside - just that Davos is a very important place for British business.

Here’s our early news story on Prince Andrew’s statement tonight:

He looked resolute and calm as he spoke for the first time to deny accusations, made in US court documents, that he had sex with a woman, Virginia Roberts, on three separate occasions when she was a minor.

Lawyers acting on her behalf have filed a letter in a Florida court addressed to the duke at Buckingham Palace, asking him to take part in a two-hour interview.

But speaking to leading figures from the worlds of politics and business at Davos Andrew said: “Firstly I think I must, [and] want, for the record to refer to the events that have taken place in the last few weeks and I just wish to reiterate and to reaffirm the statements which have already been made on my behalf by Buckingham Palace.”

He went on to say: “My focus is on my work.

Full story:

Prince Andrew makes first public denial of sex allegations in Davos

Lord Mark Malloch Brown, the former government minister, attended the Duke of York’s party.....and was snaffled for an interview with the BBC afterwards.

He said that Prince Andrew has given a clear, unequivocal reiteration of what the Palace has said.

And that was the right choice, given he was at an event where he wanted to put the focus on his work helping young people into employment.

He then moved on to discuss other issues, such as improving the skillsets of young people to help them into employment.

Andrew has reiterated his previous statements regarding the sex allegations, and insisted that he wants to focus on his work.

The Duke of York says that he must address the “events” of recent weeks:

Right, Prince Andrew is speaking now....

Larry Elliott is inside Prince Andrew’s reception, and reports that the Duke is drinking mineral water and chatting to ex Barclays boss Bob Diamond.

Back at Davos:

A good chart on European debt:

Back with the day’s big central bank news, and Societe Generale analysts say the ECB’s €1.14tn QE programme is nowhere near enough if it is to hit its 2% inflation target:

For inflation to reach close to a 2.0% threshold medium term, the potential amount of asset purchases needed is €2-3tn, not a mere €1tn. Should the ECB target such an expansion of its balance sheet, it would have to ease some conditions on its bond purchases (liquidity rule, quality...) or contemplate other asset classes - equity stocks, Real Estate Investment Trust, Exchange-traded fund - as the Bank of Japan, previously.

So the onus will remain on delivery of better-designed fiscal policy and structural reform. But it is difficult to be hopeful on these fronts.

Marc Benioff of Salesforce.com tells the tech round-table on trust that we are at an incredible phase of technology, thanks to services such as cloud computing, AI and social networks.

He agrees that we need radical transparency, in order to get the radical levels of trust needed to make them work.

Not so fast, point out audience members and viewers online. They point out that Salesforce.com runs Jigsaw, formally called data.com, which pulls data together and sells access to it.

The UK chancellor has been chatting with Harvard professor Kenneth Rogoff, and the Telegraph’s Szu Ping Chan has the snap:

UK chancellor George Osborne has told Bloomberg TV the ECB action was welcome but not sufficent for a European recovery. He said:

I think this is welcome action from the European Central Bank but action from a central bank is necessary, but not sufficient for a European recovery. We want to see this accompanied by clear plans to make the European continent more competitive to back business in Europe, to create jobs, and to make sure public finances are in order. Now we have all those ingredients in the Uk and that is why our economic plan is delivering a strong economic recovery. We want to see all those ingredients in place on the European continent so that the whole of Europe recovers.

Here’s a useful indicator from RBS:

More reaction to the ECB’s quantitative easing programme. My colleague Jill Treanor has been talking to Lord Adair Turner, former City regulator. He said:

[The ECB’s move was] slightly bigger than expected with a greater element of risk sharing which was not entirely predictable. I think it will be seen as bit more than anticipated. My own belief is that the deflationary pressures in Europe are so extreme [and] we should bring in more radical moves that require elements of fiscal relaxation, fully permanent monetarised, that is categories of helicopter money.

[But given that isn’t going to happen] this as good as we can get.

Meanwhile Andrew Sentance, senior economic adviser, PwC, said the move was modest in relation to the size of the eurozone economy:

The ECB plans to buy €60bn of assets each month, equivalent to around 7% of Eurozone GDP. When the Bank of England launched its QE programme in 2009, bond purchases totalled £25bn, per month, over 20% of GDP.

“Other concerns about the effectiveness of QE remain. The ECB has left it much longer than the UK and US to launch QE, and the experience of Japan in the 1990s and 2000s suggests that delaying policy responses allows economic and financial problems to become more deeply embedded. Also, longer term interest rates in the eurozone are already very low, which reduces the scope for QE to influence financial markets by pushing down bond yields. There may be some benefit to European growth from a weaker euro, though this will also result in higher import prices, squeezing consumer spending.

QE does not address the major structural factors holding back the Eurozone economy. Growth is very weak in France and Italy, the 2nd and 3rd largest economies using the euro which account for nearly 40% of eurozone GDP. Businesses are reluctant to invest, labour markets remain inflexible and governments have been slow to undertake much needed economic reforms. Until these issues are addressed, we are likely to continue to see disappointing growth in the euro area economies.

And here is our round up of some of the early reaction to the quantitative easing announcement:

What the experts say about the ECB’s latest round of QE.

Not to be left out the Danish Central Bank has cut rates for the second time in four days:

The move has weakened the Danish crown from 7.4429 crowns per euro to 7.4457. On Monday it shaved 0.15 percentage points off its base rate to discourage investors from switching their funds out of eurozone banks.

Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, has given her response to eurozone QE (thumbs up for Draghi, governments could do better):

We welcome the measures announced today that will strongly reinforce the ECB’s accommodative stance. The planned expansion of the ECB’s balance sheet will help lower borrowing cost across the euro area, raise inflation expectations and reduce the risk of a protracted period of low inflation. These measures will also strongly increase the prospects of the ECB achieving its price stability mandate.

It remains essential that the accommodative monetary stance is supported by comprehensive and timely policy actions in other areas, not least structural reforms to boost potential growth and ensure broad political support for demand management policies.

The press conference is over and markets are busy digesting the implications of the ECB’s unprecedented foray into quantitative easing.

German government bond yields are hitting record lows. 10-year yields are at a low of 0.377%, while two-year bond yields are at -0.18%.

Back to German chancellor Angela Merkel’s speech from earlier:

The Guardian’s Heather Stewart has given her take on the ECB story:

By buying eurozone governments’ bonds using electronically created money – so-called quantitative easing – the ECB hopes to shore up confidence, boost inflation, and drive down the value of the euro on foreign exchanges, helping to boost exports and kickstart growth.

The €60bn a month figure includes the purchases of private sector assets the ECB had already begun in a bid to unlock credit markets.
Draghi said the decision on the ECB’s governing council was made with “so large a majority that no vote was necessary”.

The launch of QE is likely to infuriate Berlin, which views it as akin to a bailout for free-spending governments such as Greece. However, with average prices already falling across the eurozone, the ECB wants to avoid the threat of a deflationary spiral, in which consumers and businesses slash spending while they wait for prices to fall further, dragging the economy into a slump.

In a concession to the Germans, Draghi promised that national central banks would bear most of the risk of their governments defaulting, with just 20% of the new bond-purchases subject to “risk-sharing”.

In an aside that will be heard loud and clear in Athens, Draghi also warned that, “some additional eligibility criteria will be applied in the case of countries under an EU/IMF adjustment programme”. That could allow the ECB to exclude Greek bonds from QE if, for example, a future Syriza government ditched the austerity programme imposed by its creditors.

Draghi says that if bubbles emerge in individual countries, they should be addressed at a local level, with macro prudential tools rather than by monetary policy.

The ECB President concedes that markets have already priced in QE because the expectation was so strong, but, he says, we haven’t seen all of the upside:

There is a difference between expectations and the actual announcement.

The British Chambers of Commerce is not as positive about eurozone QE as the CBI.

John Longworth, director general:

The ECB has to act to prevent the eurozone from falling into an even more dangerous situation, but the ECB’s proposed QE programme may be too little too late, given the size of the challenge.

The impact of eurozone QE is heavily dependent on the money reaching eurozone businesses rather than flowing to, and through, bank balance sheets via government bonds. QE must improve conditions in the financial system and increase the availability of credit to private sector businesses in order to work.

The health of the eurozone economy has a clear impact on the prosperity of the UK. Businesses in Britain, particularly our manufacturing exporters, are watching with concern to see how the ECB’s QE programme impacts sterling.

The ECB’s QE programme is unlikely to solve the fundamental challenges facing the eurozone, which needs sweeping structural changes to return to health. UK businesses will continue to trade with Europe – but only a broad-based recovery in the Eurozone would enable them to achieve their export ambitions in continental markets.

Draghi doesn’t want to be drawn on the breakdown of public/private sector purchases. “It’s difficult to give a precise division.”

There is an edge of irritation in Draghi’s voice as he says he finds the discussion of risk-sharing “futile”.

John Cridland, director general of the CBI, said eurozone QE should be good for the British economy.

At the moment, flagging Eurozone economies are dragging on UK and world growth.

Quantitative easing will give the eurozone recovery a much-needed boost, which should also have a positive economic effect in the UK.

To gain maximum effect though, this action must go hand-in-hand with structural reform. France needs to work with the business community to modernise its labour rules and Germany should invest more in infrastructure.”

Draghi makes it clear that the ECB alone cannot be expected to revive the eurozone, countries need to do their bit.

Individual governments need to get on with structural reforms and growth-friendly consolidation.

Monetary policy can create the basis for growth but for growth to pick up you need investment and for investment you need confidence and for confidence you need structural reform.

The decision to announce QE at this stage was not unanimous among the governing council, Draghi admits. Although he played down divisions:

A large majority agreed on the need to trigger it now. The majority was so large we didn’t need to take a vote. There were different views on the need to act now.

The larger than expected QE programme has lifted stock markets and seen the euro and peripheral bond yields fall, writes Nick Fletcher.

After earlier being in negative territory Germany’s Dax is now up 0.5%, France’s Cac has added 0.88%, Italy’s FTSEMIB has jumped 1.4% and Spain’s Ibex has added 1.3%. In the UK the FTSE 100 is up 0.54%.

The euro has fallen sharply, down more than 1% against the dollar at $1.1481 and hitting a seven year low against the pound at 75.95p.

Spanish 10 year bond yields have fallen to 1.491%, down around 5 basis points while Italian yields dropped to 1.636%, down 6 basis points and Greek yields are 12 basis points lower at 9.37%.

The floor is opened to questions on the ECB’s €1.1tn QE programme.

Draghi says the ECB will buy government debt to a proportion that will allow “a proper market price formation” - it won’t buy more than 25% of each issue, and not more than 33% of each issuers debt.

Major markets appear satisfied for now - all trading higher.

However, Marc Ostwald, strategist at ADM Investor Services International describes it as “a messy compromise”:

So far market is impressed by €60 Bln per month, but details are a little bit sparse, loss sharing is very limited, and it is not clear as to how they will determine how much Govt bond/ Supra QE there will be each month, given 60 Bln includes ABS and CB programmes - what will be the mechanism.

It’s almost as though they have made this so complicated that markets cannot react! Plenty of scope for markets to be disappointed when the details are published at 14.30. On balance this does smack of a very convoluted and complex compromise.

Here is Mario Draghi’s introductory statement in full.

Draghi says that low oil prices should help households and a wider economic recovery.

“However the euro area recovery is likely to be dampened by continued high unemployment and [high public debt].”

He says the risks remain to the “downside”, but that the ECB’s action today should improve the outlook.

Draghi says the decision was taken to counter two unfavourable factors - weak inflation and weak growth.

The ECB President admits the action the central bank took last year was “insufficient” to ward off the threat of deflation.

The actions will sizeably increase the ECB’s balance sheet, he says, and support its forward guidance on interest rates. These factors should strengthen demand and support money and credit growth and thereby return inflation to about 2%.

Draghi is taking his seat. He looks relaxed.

While we wait for Mario Draghi, Angela Merkel has been speaking in Davos and Graeme Wearden is following the action:

The press are gathered. But where is Mario Draghi? He’s keeping the world waiting.

Mario Draghi’s press conference will be live-streamed here. 10 minutes to go.

Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist, gives some context ahead of the ECB press conference in Frankfurt (now less than 20 mins away).

Yesterday’s reports that the Governing Council has been considering purchases of €50bn per month, perhaps up to a total of €1trn, have raised expectations even further so that a programme of €500bn or less would now be a serious let-down.

Meanwhile, the positive impact even of a big programme could be diluted if, as mooted, the risks associated with the purchases remain with the national central banks, notionally eliminating “risk sharing”.

Whether or not Mr Draghi signals that the programme may be extended in the future, and what objectives the ECB has for QE, might also be important influences on how it is initially received.

Regardless of the precise details, though, it is worth remembering that the international experience of QE has been mixed at best and that there are reasons – not least the weakness of the banking system and already low levels of bond yields – to think that it might be less effective in the euro-zone than elsewhere. In short, QE is coming but don’t expect it to cure all of the currency union’s troubles.

While we wait for the press conference to begin in Frankfurt at 13.30 (UK time), here is a reminder of what markets are expecting from ECB President Mario Draghi and his colleagues today:

• A massive bond-buying programme aimed at breathing some life into the ailing eurozone economy and revive inflation (currently at -0.2%)

• Eurozone sovereign bond purchases of €50bn (£38bn) a month, starting in March

• Programme to run to 2016, with purchases totalling €1.1tn

Here is the full statement from the ECB’s governing council on its rate decisions:

At today’s meeting the Governing Council of the ECB decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.05%, 0.30% and -0.20% respectively.

Further monetary policy measures will be communicated by the President of the ECB at a press conference starting at 2.30 p.m. CET today.

So the European Central Bank has given no clues on its planned QE programme in the initial policy statement. We will have to wait until the press conference at 13.30.

Here are the snaps from Reuters:

• 22-Jan-2015 12:44 - ECB SAYS LEAVES BENCHMARK REFINANCING RATE UNCHANGED AT 0.05 PCT
• 22-Jan-2015 12:44 - ECB SAYS LEAVES INTEREST RATE ON MARGINAL LENDING UNCHANGED AT 0.30 PCT
• 22-Jan-2015 12:44 - ECB SAYS LEAVES INTEREST RATE ON DEPOSIT FACILITY UNCHANGED AT -0.20 PCT
• 22-Jan-2015 12:44 - ECB SAYS LEAVES MAIN REFINANCING RATE UNCHANGED AT 0.05 PCT
• 22-Jan-2015 12:44 - ECB SAYS LEAVES RATE ON MARGINAL LENDING UNCHANGED AT 0.30 PCT
• 22-Jan-2015 12:44 - ECB SAYS LEAVES RATE ON DEPOSIT FACILITY UNCHANGED AT -0.20 PCT
• 22-Jan-2015 12:45 - ECB SAYS TO COMMUNICATE FURTHER MEASURES ON MONETARY POLICY AT PRESS CONFERENCE

Wait for it wait for it...

Markets keenly await the European Central Bank’s policy decision on quantitative easing. In less than five minutes we will get the initial policy statement - which may or may not give us detail on QE plans.

It might be that we have to wait until Mario Draghi’s press conference at 13.30 (UK time) for the full details.

Keep reading the blog for live updates and reaction.

Another flurry (but no shouting) in the Davos conference centre as Angela Merkel arrives.

She’s giving a keynote address in 45 minutes (2.15pm CET/1.15pm GMT).

That’s going to clash somewhat with Mario Draghi’s press conference over at the ECB. We’re going to focus on Draghi, and catch up with Merkel afterwards (Graeme will be tweeting any important points: @graemewearden )

General Al-Sisi didn’t completely avoid media attention, though. After addressing Davos, Egypt’s president was whisked through the conference centre in a security throng.

There was a brief kerfuffle. Someone called out to him, along the lines of “Would you like me to find some liberals for you to fight?”, before al-Sisi vanished into the off-limit rooms.

The Duke of York has arrived in Davos before his cocktail party this evening.

His public appearance comes as lawyers acting for the woman who alleges she was forced by a multimillionaire financier to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17, formally request that he respond under oath to her accusations.

AM

Just grabbed a quick word with Enda Kenny, Ireland’s Taoiseach.

He warned Davos this morning that Europe faces a “chasm of disconnection” between its institutions and member states.

So what’s the solution? Europe needs to build closer ties with citizens, he explains, so people understand the benefits for them and their kids.

Ireland has has several referendums over the years, Kenny points out, which makes people think about the relationship with Brussels. That’s not happened in other countries, meaning public engagement can “drift”.

So you’d welcome a UK referendum on EU membership?

Totally a matter for the UK, Kenny replies. But he does want Britain to remain as a very important member of the EU, and supports David Cameron’s push to complete the single market and reduce red tape.

Al-Sisi’s claim that Egypt’s youth are its future is causing a stir on Twitter:

UK manufacturers are less optimistic about their export prospects, according to the latest quarterly CBI industrial trends survey.

Expectations for export order volumes fell to show a balance of +1, down from +9 in the last survey in October. In January total orders fell from +5 in December to +4. Output expectations dropped from +16 to +13, the lowest since October 2-13. CBI director of economics Rain Newton-Smith said:

Exports have grown modestly but there is a feeling that we will not see a repeat in the next quarter, with the eurozone still treading water and battling inflation.

Soon we will see the European Central Bank’s response to the eurozone’s problems, of course.

General al-Sisi didn’t have to defend Egypt’s human rights record:

Egypt’s president al-Sisi just addressed Davos. He claimed a connection betweem uprisings in Egypt and the Unity March in Paris, and also declared:

“We are extremely serious about creating a democratic system in Egypt in which everyone can participate.”

Journalists at Davos aren’t impressed that al-Sisi is in town, given that three colleagues are still locked up in his jails.

What can we expect and when from the ECB today?

At 12.45 (UK time) the central bank will issue a statement outlining the governing council’s decisions on key interest rates.

We will hopefully get some indication on QE in the statement, but we will probably have to wait until the press conference at 13.30 for the full details.

The press conference will be live streamed here.

AM

For all the facts and figures on Davos, read the Guardian’s briefing here. A taster of the delegate breakdown is shown in the charts below.

There is also a good spinning globe infographic on the WEF website here.

AM

“Mario Draghi is not in Davos this year but is still managing to dominate events,” Larry Elliott, the Guardian’s Economics Editor, reports from the Swiss ski resort.

A few extracts from Larry’s blog below, but the full report can be found here.

All anybody wants to talk about today at the World Economic Forum is the European Central Bank and quantitative easing. How much? For how long? What concessions have been made to the Germans? Will it make any real difference to the enfeebled state of the eurozone?

After so many false dawns in the past, the prevailing mood is one of caution. There is very little sense among the business leaders or the policy chiefs that buying €50bn (£38bn) of sovereign bonds a month will do much good. Rather, the feeling is that not doing it could do even more damage to an economy already in deflation.

Things do not look all that promising for the eurozone. There has been too much austerity, too little structural reform, the transmission mechanism is impaired.

So, is there any point to QE? Yes, because banks have been paying back the cheap loans to the ECB they were granted at the height of the crisis. The ECB’s balance sheet has been shrinking for the past 18 months. Buying bonds will offset the tightening impact of that process.

In addition, the euro has dropped sharply on the foreign exchanges in anticipation of ECB action. Failure to deliver will reverse that process, making imports cheaper and adding to deflationary pressure. ECB action on Thursday will not transform the eurozone’s economic prospects. But doing nothing would make a bad state of affairs even worse.

AM

Finland’s prime minister is putting a brave face on the prospect of a Eurozone QE package today.

Alex Stubb told Davos:

We firmly believe in the independence of the ECB. Whatever they do today, we will welcome with a smile.

Dutch PM Mark Rutte isn’t happy that some countries (France, perhaps?) are still debating whether to take tough decisions on their economy.

Europe needs to do a lot more to become competitive, he tells Davos.

I am concerned that there is still debate in some countries about whether to take such measures. My plea is that we step up the game.

The weakening in the euro has been great for Ireland, Enda Kenny declares, by helping exports and tourism. That chimes with Christine Lagarde’s point earlier today about QE expectations already helping.

His big hope is that the young people who left Ireland to look for work will be able to come home, if they choose, bringing new skills.

Antony Jenkins, the chief executive of Barclays, is in Davos and has been speaking to Bloomberg Television.

Here is what he had to say about the recent market volatility:

The one certain thing is that we live in a very uncertain world – look at the price. What is driving this volatility is an increase in geopolitical instability, and structurally lower macroeconomic growth that creates pressure in local economies. We can expect volatility in commodities and currencies for the foreseeable future.Volatility affects every business, but the point for business leaders like me is to build resilience into you business.

On the future of Barclays investment bank:

If you go back a decade or so, people like me were talking about getting bigger. The reality today is the constraints on balance sheets [with more capital to be held] requires you have to focus. That’s what we’ve done in the investment bank, focusing on where we can generate returns for our customers. I’ve already said the investment bank will be no more than 30% of the business.

AM

Sigmar Gabriel also points out that in 2003, Germany and France broke the measures in the Maastricht treaty.

But there’s a big difference. We started our structural reforms then, but France did not. We’d have had to make even deeper savings to stick within Maastricht.

But wasn’t it easier for Germany to restructure precisely because other country’s weren’t restructuring?

Gabriel agrees that reforms aren’t easy -- they must always be combined with education and measures to boost innovation.

The main hall at Davos is now filling up (slowly) for a debate on Europe, starring four European leaders. They’re discussing the twin challenges of stability and growth.

They are Latvia’s PM Laimdota Straujuma, Irish leader Enda Kenny, Dutch PM Mark Rutte and Finland’s PM Alex Stubb.

And also German vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel.

Christine Lagarde’s view is that a eurozone quantitative easing programme is already having an effect, as markets have pushed down the euro in anticipation.

But as flagged earlier, Larry Summers argue that the impact of QE is limited:

Santander chief Ana Botin was more upbeat, though -- with QE on the way, Europe is heading towards recovery with a more stable and effective currency union. And that’s the end of the session.

It’s a big mistake to think that quantitative easing is some magic cure for the world’s ills, argues Larry Summers.

I agree with Christine [Lagarde] that QE has already had significant impact, and that’s why I’m worried.

We’ve already had a set of positive developments, and the economic forecasts are pretty dismal from here.

Chancellor George Osborne’s breakfast meeting with bosses of major UK companies has broken up, Jill Treanor reports.

While those who left were tight lipped about the conversation that took place, it seems that George Osborne was keen for business people to shout out about their ability to create jobs.

Around 30 chief executives and chairman met the Chancellor, who sat alongside the head of the CBI John Cridland.

Among those there to hear Obsorne speak were boardroom veteran Sir Roger Carr, Sir David Walker, the outgoing chairman of Barclays, Gavin Patterson, the boss of BT, Antonio Simeos, the UK head of HSBC and Iain Conn, the BP veteran who now runs Centrica.

Osborne’s gathering , which was organised by accountants KPMG, takes place at a sensitive time for business leaders operating the UK and when the UK’s position in the EU is being questioned. Ahead of the general election in May, business leaders are expecting a turbulent period with major sectors such as banking, energy supply and supermarket’s treatment of suppliers likely to be hot topics for politicians.

Lagarde isn’t impressed by the argument that the US economy is too weak to support a rate hike:

If the US is in a bad place, we are short of any engine of growth.

Raising US interest rates will strengthen the US dollar even more, and cause a chilling effect on the US economy, Gary Cohn adds (he’s President and Chief Operating Officer of Goldman).

Gary Cohn of Goldman Sachs isn’t so confident that the US will raise rates as early as this summer, as Lagarde suggests.

He tells Davos that while the US economy is growing, he’s concerned about the Fed’s ability to raise rates given what’s happening in the rest of the world, in Japan and Europe.

And US inflation is “nowhere close” to the Fed’s 2% target, and falling commodity prices mean we’re a long way from it, he concludes.

Reminder, you can follow a live video-feed from WEF here.

It’s a huge day for the eurozone, and for Mario Draghi personally. Can he deliver “whatever it takes” to save the euro, as he promised back in the summer of 2012?

The eloquent President of the European Central Bank is accustomed to the spotlight, but the pressure is particularly intense today.

Global markets will be listening to every word. Policymakers will be hoping that quantitative easing will be enough to turn around the flagging economy and stoke inflation, but many fear it will be too little too late.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, sums up the enormity of the moment (borrowing from Star Trek)

Con permiso Mr Draghi, the hall is rented, the orchestra engaged, now it’s time to see if you can dance.

AM

Angela Merkel and Mario Draghi are two of the most powerful figures in Europe right now, so it’s a little irksome that they’ll be speaking at the same time this afternoon......

The ex-head of the Bundesbank, Axel Weber, is arguing against a big eurozone QE package....even as his former colleagues at the ECB dicuss the idea in Frankfurt.

UBS has handed out Fitbit pedometers to Davos attendees - promising to give a bicycle to African schoolchildren for every delegate who walks at least 6km per day. Weber claims to be ahead of the pack:

Climate change continues to be a big issue at Davos. Last night, the president of the World Bank (via the Guardian) put his weight behind the issue.

Jim Kim told us:

“We are seeing the accelerated impact of climate change. Last year was the hottest on record. That matters. Extreme weather is real. It’s a complete no brainer to move towards cleaner more liveable cities,”

Davos 2015: World Bank chief makes climate action plea