By Jon Sindreu

LONDON--Economists expect the European Central Bank to hold off on sovereign bond purchases next week, despite further dangers of deflation haunting the eurozone.

The bank's governing council meeting Thursday--the final one of 2014--is likely to convey a more dovish message and lower inflation expectations, analysts say, but no new measures are expected until next year.

The central bank has set in motion schemes to purchase covered bonds and asset-backed securities, but weaker prices put pressure on its President Mario Draghi to start buying sovereign bonds as well, a policy known as quantitative easing. In a speech this week, ECB Vice-President Vitor Constancio opened the door to such purchases in 2015.

"We must wait to see if ECB President Mario Draghi will repeat his readiness to start buying government bonds if the inflation outlook deteriorates further," said Zach Witton, economist at Moody's Analytics, in a research note Friday.

Purchasing managers' index figures for the manufacturing and services sectors are expected to show economic activity in the core eurozone countries--Germany, France and Italy--remained broadly flat in November.

 
Date    GMT     Indicator                          Period    Forecast      Previous 
Dec 01  0945    Italy PMI manufacturing            Nov       49.5 (8)      49.0 
Dec 01  0950    France PMI manufacturing final     Nov       47.6 (11)     47.6p/48.5 
Dec 01  0955    Germany PMI manufacturing final    Nov       50.0 (20)     50.0p/51.4 
Dec 01  1000    Italy GDP final                    3Q        -0.1%QQ (15)  -0.1%QQp/-0.2%QQ 
Dec 01  1000    Italy GDP final                    3Q        -0.4%YY (13)  -0.4%YYp/-0.3%YY 
Dec 01  1000    Eurozone PMI manufacturing final   Nov       50.4 (24)     50.4p/50.6 
Dec 02  1100    Eurozone PPI                       Oct       -0.3%MM (8)   +0.2%MM 
Dec 02  1100    Eurozone PPI                       Oct       -1.3%YY (12)  -1.4%YY 
Dec 03  0945    Italy PMI services                 Nov       50.3 (7)      50.8 
Dec 03  0950    France PMI services final          Nov       48.8 (11)     48.8p/48.3 
Dec 03  0955    Germany PMI services final         Nov       52.1 (19)     52.1p/54.4 
Dec 03  1000    Eurozone PMI services final        Nov       51.3 (24)     51.3p/52.3 
Dec 03  1000    Eurozone PMI composite final       Nov       51.4 (13)     51.4p/51.1 
Dec 03  1100    Eurozone Retail sales              Oct       +0.5%MM (12)  -1.3%MM 
Dec 04  1345    Eurozone Main refinancing rate     Dec       0.05% (23)    0.05% 
Dec 05  0800    Germany Industrial orders          Oct       +0.5%MM (26)  +0.8%MM 
Dec 05  1100    Eurozone GDP 2nd flash             3Q        +0.2%QQ (23)  +0.2%QQp/+0.1%QQ 
Dec 05  1100    Eurozone GDP 2nd flash             3Q        +0.8%YY (19)  +0.8%YYp/+0.8%YY 
 
(Figures in parentheses refer to number of economists surveyed. p = preliminary) 
 

Write to Jon Sindreu at jon.sindreu@wsj.com