Debt crisis: as it happened, September 18, 2012 Reuters reported that George Provopoulos (pictured below) informed ECB president Mario Draghi of his decision in a letter outlining measures already taken to reduce operating costs and wages. It quoted the letter as saying: I am determined to continue this process of cost rationalisation at the Bank of Greece. In this connection, I have decided to reduce my salary by an additional 30 percent following a cut of 20 percent in December 2009, bringing the cumulative decline since 2009 to 50 percent. 16.35 Chris Beauchamp at IG Index comments on today's market movers: Some of the jitters over the China-Japan situation have eased since this morning, but generally the atmosphere remains similar to that seen yesterday, being one mainly of rest after the strong rally that characterised the past two weeks. The central bank decisions of early September might now be behind us, but with the Fed and ECB now committed to active intervention, the likelihood is that markets will shrug off this temporary weakness in due course. After all, any bad economic data can be countered with the QE3 mantra, while the eurozone crisis has been neutered for now by the ECB's decision to buy more bonds. The main event for the coming weeks is Spain's bailout; the Spanish government might be looking to haggle over the terms, and unlike Greece, Ireland and Portugal it has the clout to make the rest of the eurozone listen. However, given sufficient pressure, properly applied from bond markets, Madrid will likely concede in due course. Bank of England minutes tomorrow will help shed more light on whether Sir Mervyn King and his chums at Threadneedle Street are likely to join in the global stimulus party any time soon. However, the general trend of a quiet week will persist for a third day. 15.59 European shares have fallen further today. The FTSE 100 in London is down 0.5pc at 5,862.49, while the CAC 40 in Paris is down 1pc 3,516.09 and Frankfurt's DAX has fallen 0.7pc to 7,354.77. The FTSE Mib in Milan has fallen 2.3pc to 16,095.22. 15.14 The head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers has repeated that a Greek exit from the eurozone would be "disastrous for the Greeks" and Europe as a whole. Jean-Claude Juncker also said that the eurozone would make "really tough" demands of Spain on reforms and budget savings. Still no word from Spain on whether it will ask for a Brussels bail-out. 14.59 The full text of Mr Weidmann's speech has been posted on the Bundesbank website. Mr Weidmann cites the first part of Faust II, where Mephistopheles, disguised as a jester, convinces an emperor to issue large amounts of paper money, which - for a time - solves the kingdom's financial problems. But it all ends badly with the German version of hell: inflation. Yes, this temptation certainly exists, and many in monetary history have succumbed to it ...Mr Weidmann said, adding that the antidote is an independent central bank free of political control. An actor plays Mephisto in an Edinburgh production of Faust (Photo: handout) 13.59 Finland's Europe minister has said that he is sceptical of giving Greece more time - especially if it involves a third bail-out. Alexander Stubb told reporters: We are sceptical about giving more time, especially if it means more money, but we should not exclude any options at this stage. 13.34 Mr Weidmann, who has been criticised by both former ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet and Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble for voicing his concerns to the media, defended his right to speak out. He said that it was "important for trust" that the central bankers who are responsible for the value of money "justify themselves publicly." 13.25 Jens Weidmann, the head of the Bundesbank, has once again criticised unlimited bond buying by central banks. Although he did not directly refer to the ECB's bond buying plans, Mr Weidmann said that central banks that promise to create unlimited amounts of money risk fuelling inflation and losing their "credibility." In a speech in Frankfurt, he said: If a central bank can potentially create unlimited money from nothing, how can it ensure that money is sufficiently scarce to retain its value? Is there not a big temptation to misuse this instrument to create short-term room to manoeuvre even when long-term damage is very likely? Yes, this temptation is very real, and many in the history of money have succumbed to it. If one looks back in history, central banks were often created precisely to give the monarch the freest possible access to seemingly unlimited financial means. The connection between states" great financial needs and a government controlling the central bank often led to an excessive expansion of the money supply, and the result was devaluation of money through inflation. The independence serves much more to establish with credibility that monetary policy can concentrate without hindrance on keeping the value of money stable. 12.30 Gold could hit $2,400 an ounce by the end of 2014, according to analysts at Bank of America. In a note today, Francisco Blanch and his team write: We have maintained a $2,000/oz target on gold on the back of our expectations of further monetary easing in 2H2012. While still over $200/oz short of our target, gold has staged a phenomenal rally the last two and a half months moving up to an intraday high of $1,779/oz last week. The uplift in prices has come as expectations materialized into aggressive policy easing announcements by the Fed and the ECB in recent days. Is this the end of the gold rally or will prices continue to move higher? While we maintain a 9m target of $2,000/oz, we now introduce a 24m target of $2,400/oz. The new target reflects our view that the Fed will maintain mortgage purchases until the end of 2014 and will move to buy Treasuries following the end of Operation Twist this coming December. Our analysis suggests that a single month's purchases of MBS to the tune of $40bn will likely lift gold prices by around 0.7% within the time frame of four months. Assuming that these purchases will continue until the end of 2014, this may lift gold prices by a cumulative $360/oz relative to spot, taking quotations to $2,100/oz. If we include additional Treasury purchases of $45bn per month once Operation Twist comes to an end, we see an additional monthly uplift in gold prices of 0.8%. Spot gold is currently trading at $1,758.