ECB move lead to record corporate bond issuance in March

Corporations in Euro Zone are having time of their life in financing themselves as yields have dropped, after European Central Bank (ECB) announced additional bond purchase of €20 billion per month, in addition to its current €60 billion per month and inclusion of non-bank investment grade corporate bonds.

While many has predicted including us, that European Central Bank (ECB) might face issues while purchasing corporate bonds since the universe is pretty small with just about € 554 billion, that is eligible for purchase. So it would have been a difficult task for ECB to purchase without disrupting liquidity.

But by looking at the level of issuance it seems those concerns could be overblown, if new supply reaches market. According to data from BONDVIGILANTES, in March new bond issuance from non-bank corporates in March, reached record high of €50 billion and more are in line for issuance in April.

ECB have started purchasing additional bonds from today.

ECB’ newly introduced purchase program is having all the intended effects, lowering of yields across the curve, higher equity prices, however Euro is stubbornly edging up against intention and currently trading at 1.138 against Dollar.