De kogel is door de kerk. De ECB drukt de nucleaire knop in en gaat over tot het opkopen van staatsobligaties uit Europese lidstaten: QE! Via Reuters: * ECB to buy government bonds for first time * Says steps justified by budget promises * Bond purchases to be sterilised to offset liquidity * Brings back 6-month liquidity operation, dollar lending BASEL, Switzerland, May 10 (Reuters) – The European Central Bank will buy euro zone government bonds to help support fractured markets, abandoning resistance to full-scale asset purchases in light of Greece’s debt crisis. The ECB said in a statement that the step, dubbed the ‘nuclear option’ by many economists, was justified because of government promises to meet strict budget targets and step up consolidation efforts. Boosting its firepower further, the ECB said it would also re-start dollar lending operations and bring back some of the emergency liquidity measures it had started to phase out. “The European Central Bank decided on several measures to address the severe tensions in certain market segments which are hampering the monetary policy transmission mechanism and thereby the effective conduct of monetary policy oriented towards price stability in the medium term,” it said in a statement just after European Union finance ministers announced their own 500 billion euro crisis package.