European and US equities rose yesterday, lifted by news reports that the European Central Bank will announce a massive bond-buying programme to boost the eurozone’s flagging economy.

US Treasury yields declined and the euro rose against the dollar after news reports that the ECB, which will hold a policy meeting today, plans to buy roughly €50 billion in bonds per month for at least one year.

The reported amount of the purchases “at a minimum, meets expectations”, Dan Greenhaus, chief strategist at BTIG, said. “If this means the ECB is considering, or would implement, an open-ended form of (quantitative easing), well then that’s a whole other ball game.”

The FTSEurofirst 300 index that tracks European stock markets turned positive on the news reports and was last ahead 0.4 per cent.

US stocks opened down, in part because International Business Machines Corp. issued a disappointing outlook, but rose after the reports on the ECB bond-buying programme. Wall Street’s Dow Jones industrial average was last up 32.78 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 17,548.01, the S&P 500 was ahead 9.35 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 2,031.9, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 20.83 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 4,675.67.

The MSCI World Index of equities markets was up 0.6 per cent.

US Treasury debt prices, especially those of long-term issues, rose as the European bond-buying programme was seen fuelling demand for Treasuries that already pay much higher yields. Thirty-year bonds yielded 2.3729 per cent, reflecting a price gain of 19/32.

The euro hit a nearly one-week high against the dollar, at $1.168, after the media reports and was last at $1.1602, according to Thomson Reuters data. The expectations of ECB action – with the potential stimulus seen at around €600 billion, according to a poll – kept eurozone core bond yields near record lows.

ECB Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny told a Euromoney conference in Vienna that the bank’s meeting today would be interesting but one “shouldn’t get over excited about it”.