Market history · Central banks ·
The ECB launches quantitative easing
On 22 January 2015 the European Central Bank announced an expanded asset purchase programme, adding government bonds to its existing private-sector purchases, for combined purchases of €60 billion a month intended to run until at least September 2016.
Euro-area bond yields, already low, fell further and the euro weakened. The programme was extended repeatedly and, by the time it stopped adding net purchases in 2018, had become one of the largest in the world.
The takeaway
Central-bank buying can push yields below levels that fundamentals alone would suggest.
Sources
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