ECB Commercial Paper Purchases Wane With Focus Shifting to Yield
- Commercial paper holdings shrink to a third of pandemic peak
- Central bank shifts focus to keep rising bond yields in check
Photographer: Amelie Querfurth/AFP/Getty Images
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An emergency program backstopping short-term liquidity for companies during the pandemic is facing obsolescence just a year after its launch as the European Central Bank’s focus turns to the threat of rising bond yields.
The ECB’s holdings of commercial paper have shriveled to just a third of their peak last May, shrinking to 12.8 billion euros ($15.2 billion) in the February-March period, according to data published by the ECB Wednesday. By contrast, holdings of longer corporate bonds kept rising to 27.1 billion euros.