, Columnist
Soaring Yields Oust the Euro as the ECB’s Biggest Problem
The last thing the central bank needs right now is a taper tantrum.
We have bigger problems.
Photographer: OLIVIER MATTHYS/AFPThis article is for subscribers only.
Christine Lagarde has some explaining to do at Thursday’s European Central Bank meeting.
Amid the fixed-income rout and soaring yields, the ECB has been far too cautious in using its most visible weapon: Quantitative Easing bond buying. The bank has bought only 12 billion euros ($14 billion), net of redemptions, over each of the last two weeks — short of the 18 billion euros it had been buying on average each week since the pandemic program started a year ago.