Ready to do everything it takes, ECB steps up Italian bond buys

FRANKFURT/ROME (Reuters) - The European Central Bank is ready to do everything in its power to ease market turmoil, a top executive said on Wednesday, as the bank stepped up purchases of Italian bonds to stem the biggest sell-off since the euro zone's debt crisis. Invoking the pledge of former ECB president Mario Draghi to do "whatever it takes" to save the euro, ECB board member Isabel Schnabel said the ECB was ready to counter market turmoil, a message aimed at halting a massive bond market..