Corporate-Bond Liquidity at Risk as ECB Seen Entering Market
- Airbus, Volkswagen Notes Could Join Bond-Buying List, BNP Says
- Central Bank Holding Onto Bonds May Exacerbate Trading Slump
This article is for subscribers only.
The European Central Bank’s addition of three listed companies’ notes to a bond-buying program has sparked concerns about how far it may push into the corporate-bond market and the impact this would have on already tight liquidity.
The inclusion of the listed companies, all Italian utilities less than 30 percent state owned, may mark a first step toward buying bonds from any government-backed company, BNP Paribas SA analysts wrote in a note. That may open as much as 157 billion euros ($174 billion) of securities outstanding to potential ECB buying, including notes from Volkswagen AG, Airbus Group SE and Telekom Austria AG, they said.