Trichet Is Buyer of Only Resort as Debt Woes Worsen
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European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet is the buyer of only resort as the euro area’s bond market melts down.
Just six months after he threw out his rule book to prevent Greece’s debt crisis from splintering the euro area, the 67-year old Frenchman may again be the only policy maker able to prevent the collapse in Irish and Portuguese bonds from spreading. That may require him to ignore opposition from Bundesbank President Axel Weber to the ECB’s bond-buying program and expand purchases of sovereign assets, according to Citigroup Inc. and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.