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B. G., Opalesque Geneva:

The European Central Bank (ECB) announced on Thursday the coronavirus economic support plan would remain in place. Its key interest rates are unchanged, and the central bank will conduct net asset purchases under the PEPP (pandemic emergency purchase program) "with a total envelope of €1,850 billion until at least the end of March 2022". Net purchases under the asset purchase program (APP) will continue at a monthly pace of €20bn (US$24.3bn) "for as long as necessary." For investors, this could be a sign of positive credit markets or a source of concern for the Eurozone economy.

German Bund steepeners

No surprises from the ECB as they decided to keep net purchases under PEPP over the coming quarter at a significantly higher pace than during the first months of the year, comments Swiss bank UBP's fixed-income strategist Mohammed Kazzmi. "Over the past few weeks, this also became the consensus view amongst investors following various comments from several Governing Council members. This also followed the move higher in Bund yields and wider peripheral spreads that had been observed since the previous ECB meeting which had tightened financial conditions marginally, to which the ECB is clearly quite sensitive towards."

The ECB's project......................

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