The European Central Bank (ECB) purchased €18.22 billion of government and agency bonds under its quantitative-easing program last week.

The ECB bought €2.42 billion of covered bonds, and €45 million of asset-backed securities.

The ECB cut its interest rate to 0.00% from 0.05% and deposit rate to -0.4% from -0.3% at its March monetary policy meeting. The ECB also expanded its monthly purchases to €80 billion from €60 billion, to take effect in April. Purchases will include non-bank corporate debt.