ECB Bailout Plan On Hold

A pending German court decision and the simmering mess in Greece are dampening hopes

A delay to the highly anticipated German court decision on bail-out funding and a rebellion in the Greek government over austerity doused hopes that the European Central Bank will be able to stem the crisis after all.

Germany's federal constitutional court said it might be forced to delay its ruling on the legality of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) because of an eleventh hour objection by an MP. Peter Gauweiler, a member of Angela Merkel's ruling coalition, argued that the court ruling, due on Wednesday, should take time to assess the impact of the ECB's "outright monetary transactions", announced last week.