European Central Bank President Mario Draghi signaled he'd rather use interest rates than the printing press to bolster growth as the debt crisis drags the euro-area economy toward recession.

Chairing his first policy meeting after succeeding Jean- Claude Trichet on Nov. 1, Draghi unexpectedly cut the benchmark rate yesterday by a quarter point to 1.25 percent and left the door open to a further move. At the same time, he ruled out ramping up ECB bond buying to reduce governments' borrowing costs, saying the program is "temporary" and "limited."

"It's back to basics on the crisis fighting; rates rather than bond purchases," said Julian Callow, chief European economist at Barclays Capital in London. "He must be the first ECB President to utter the word 'recession' before it has actually happened."