Vienna Violins Show ECB How Asset Buying Is Music to the Ear
- Austrian central bank has instruments on its balance sheet
- ECB meets to discuss stimulus program in Vienna on Thursday
European flags flutter in front of the headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on March 10, 2016. The European Central Bank cut all three of its key interest rates and beefed up its controversial asset purchase programme in a bid to kickstart chronically low inflation in the euro area. / AFP / DANIEL ROLAND (Photo credit should read DANIEL ROLAND/AFP/Getty Images)
Photographer: Daniel Roland/AFP via Getty ImagesEuropean Central Bank policy makers meeting in Vienna this week have the chance to experience just how unconventional an asset purchase can be.
After discussing their expanded 1.7 trillion-euro ($1.9 trillion) bond-buying plan, Governing Council members will be treated to a performance featuring the Austrian central bank’s most extraordinary balance-sheet items: violins, violas and cellos built by masters such as Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu. For central bankers under attack from euro-skeptics, the resonance of the event may run deeper than just the music.