Trichet says that the buying of covered bonds is to support that asset class and it is not a quantitative easing. Update: When questioned further, Trichet acknowledged it is quantitative ease after all.
The economy in Q1 was much worse than expected, Trichet says though Q2 will be much less negative.
I guess if they sterilize their purchases, technically it would not be. His answer on sterilization confused the hell out of me…I’ll let the high-paid street economists sort that out.