More than a dozen junk bonds in Europe now trade with a negative yield, the WSJ reports.

Paying for the privilege of owning a junk bond is pure madness but it’s a sign of just how loose and stimulative central banks have grown — especially the ECB.

Even in the US, there have been some hard-to-fathom moves with the yield for BB-rated bonds in the ICE Bank of America Merrill Lynch euro high-yield index at 1.9% down from 3.6% in January.

If this is just the start of a cycle of cutting rates then it will mean far more companies will have negative yields. That will certainly help to underpin zero-yielding assets like gold.