Was the Securities Markets Programme Effective in Stabilizing Irish Sovereign Yields

We examine whether the ECB’s Securities Markets Programme (SMP) was effective in reversing or stabilising adverse movements in Irish sovereign yields. Our initial analysis examines whether daily yield movements responded significantly to interventions. At the daily frequency we find no significant effects despite dealing with endogeneity and omitted variable bias. In contrast, making use of the exact timing of interventions and movements in high-frequency inter-dealer quotes, we find clear evidence that SMP stabilised yields on average from the moment of the initial intervention until the end of trading on intervention days. However, adverse pre-intervention movements were significant and these were seldom reversed by intervention effects.