The plethora of companies propped up by the European Central Bank will limit policy makers’ ability to withdraw monetary stimulus that’s been supporting the continent’s bond market since the financial crisis, according to strategists at Bank of America Corp, Bloomberg News reported. About 9 percent of Europe’s biggest companies could be classified as the walking dead, companies that risk collapse if the support dries up, according to the analysts.

Five years ago this week, Mario Draghi’s landmark “whatever it takes” speech turned the tide of the euro crisis, the president effectively clarifying the European Central Bank’s role as a conditional lender of last resort to eurozone sovereign borrowers, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. Having bought time for countries and the wider region to address structural vulnerabilities, how much progress has been made? From our perspective as an investor, the conclusion is — not nearly enough.

UK banks offering easy credit risk endangering “everyone else in the economy”, according to a high-ranking official at the Bank of England. Alex Brazier, who is a member of the bank’s Financial Policy Committee, warned in a speech on Monday that “pockets of debt” pose a growing risk, as household incomes are squeezed by rising prices and weak wage growth, the Financial Times reported. Mr Brazier said there were three aspects of household lending that were of particular concern. Terms and conditions on some credit cards and personal loans have been relaxed.

The International Monetary Fund has cut its growth forecast for the UK economy in 2017, its first downgrade since the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote last year, the Financial Times reported. In an update to its World Economic Outlook, the IMF said annual GDP would expand 1.7 per cent this year, compared to a forecast of 2 per cent growth made in April. The 2018 forecast was unchanged at 1.5 per cent.

The International Monetary Fund is keeping the pressure on in Greece, the Financial Times reported. Having approved “in principle” a largely symbolic cash injection for the country, the IMF is pressuring its eurozone partners to provide more realistic budget targets and ambitious debt relief as its price for involvement in the Greek bailout. Late on Thursday, the IMF’s executive board voted to give a precautionary green light to a “standby arrangement” for Greece.

It’s hard to be a confident investor in Italian bank debt. The recent rescues of Monte Paschi di Siena, Popolare Vicenza, and Veneto Banca are simply the latest reasons over the past few years. Markets have responded by cutting off bond funding to Italian lenders, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. The amount of Italian bank bonds outstanding has shrunk by about 30 per cent since the start of 2015. The decline in volumes has gone along with increasing yields on subordinated and senior unsecured notes.

A “raging bull” euro was weighing on European stocks on Friday, with Germany’s Dax among the worst-hit as indices across the eurozone extended their early losses, the Financial Times reported. The Europe-wide Stoxx 600 was down around 0.4 per cent at publication time, with industrial groups and producers of consumer discretionary goods – two sectors particularly reliant on exports – the biggest drivers of the decline.

Greek assets are trading steadily this morning as investors await the International Monetary Fund’s latest verdict on its involvement in the country’s bailout programme. The IMF’s board is due to vote on an agreement between the fund’s staff and EU creditors for a precautionary cash injection should the IMF get more guarantees from Brussels on debt relief measures for Greece, the Financial Times reported.

As Europe’s era of easy money slowly draws to a close, the talk in Frankfurt and London is of bond yields, exchange rates and core inflation. In this medieval city at the foot of the Apennines, it’s all about trains. A stimulus program by the European Central Bank helped revive the train factory that is the largest employer in Pistoia, hauling the city out of a deep economic slump and putting people back to work.

With the French presidential contest out of the way, market concerns around political risk in Europe have dissipated, the Financial Times reported. Enjoying the best macroeconomic environment since the crisis, Europe may be at the onset of a few golden years. But the global financial crisis left a legacy of high debts and bad loans clogging bank balance sheets in several countries, among which Italy is the largest. These problems risk spoiling the party when interest rates normalise. Restoring bank balance sheets to good health would enormously reduce downside risks.