ECB Increases Bond Buying After Warnings About Higher Yields

The European Central Bank stepped up the pace of its emergency bond-buying last week after policy makers issued repeated warnings that a recent rise in yields threatens to derail the region’s economic recovery.

Gross purchases settled under its pandemic emergency program totaled 18.2 billion euros ($21.6 billion) in the week ended March 5, compared with 16.9 billion euros a week a earlier. The ECB also said 6.3 billion euros of debt was redeemed, contributing to the relatively muted pace of net buying reported a day earlier.