Coeure: ECB bought €3.2 billion in bonds on Monday

Coeure said central bank buying was much more than €25-50 million euros rumored.

The ECB and Eurozone central banks bought €3.2 billion in bonds on Monday to kick off the program. That puts to rest reports the program started with much more modest amounts. That level of buying would need to occur every day the market is open to hit the ECB's monthly target of €60 billion.

More comments from Coeure on the program:

• Expect banks to shift to riskier portfolios due to QE, providing further stimulus
• At this point see no issues in respect of sourcing bonds for ECB to buy
• Will publish aggregate of securities purchased every week
• Will communicate residual maturity of portfolio by jurisdiction each month
• To avoid any shortage of assets used as collateral, bonds bought under QE will be made available to market via securities lending

The last comment is interesting because it would diminish the overall 'money printing' effect of QE if the assets are lent back out and the ECB holds the cash.