ECB Begins Buying Corporate Bonds

The European Central Bank (ECB) will start buying corporate bonds on June 8. This will broaden Quantitative Easing by expanding it to a new asset class in a desperate struggle against deflation. The Governing Council meeting in Vienna maintained the refinancing rate at zero and the deposit rate at -0.4 percent as a component of its asset purchases of 80 billion euros per month.

This type of stimulus is, at least, far better than buying government debt. Governments do not create jobs that truly contribute to economic growth because government produces nothing. Unfortunately, buying corporate bonds from bankers only means they are relieving the banks of paper they do not want. The ECB is hopelessly fighting against the wind of deflation because they do not control the fiscal side of the balance sheet. We have the European Commission plotting against the economy by attempting to raise taxes at every possible turn on top of creating a Byzantine system of serious over-regulation that prevents business expansion and formation.

The superficial view of how this will stimulate the economy is always good for a bounce, as people trade within the noise of a market defined by resistance and support. However, the long-term prospect of this actually reversing the trend or “stimulating” anything is hopeless.