As European Central Bank Eases Emergency Measures, Risks May Lurk

As European Central Bank Eases Emergency Measures, Risks May LurkConsumers, businesses and politicians have gotten accustomed to — some would say spoiled by — low interest rates.The central bank’s benchmark interest rate is zero, and investors are so desperate for safe places to put their moneythat corporations like Daimler, the German automotive giant, have been able to issue bonds that pay no interest.No one knows for sure what unpleasant surprises may lurk when it begins the process of so-called tapering — taking away the easy moneythat made it possible for banks to lend and governments to borrow even after investors had largely deserted them during the worst of the downturn.25, 2017FRANKFURT — The European Central Bank appeared ready on Thursday to begin dismantling a decade’s worth of emergency measuresthat helped keep the eurozone from disintegrating during the financial crisis.Since early 2015, the bank has used newly created money to buy bondsand other assets worth more than 2 trillion euros, or about $2.35 trillion — a sum roughly equal to the annual economic output of India.The central bank has said it will not begin raising rates until it has stopped buying bonds,and only if the eurozone inflation rate is on track to hit the official target of 2 percent.would like to announce tapering as noiselessly as possible," analysts at Dutch bank ING said in a note to clients.