The announcement of PEPP had an immediate and calming effect on financial markets. Figure 11 Indicator for systemic stress in financial markets. Index  Source: ECB Working Paper No. 1426. Note: CISS denotes the Composite Indicator of Systemic Stress (0 = No stress,1 = High stress). The indicator aggregates stress signals from money, bond, equity and foreign exchange markets. Latest observation: 14 September 2020.
In particular, the PEPP effectively countered risks of fragmentation in European financial markets, which would have prevented the smooth transmission of our monetary policy measures to the entire euro area. Risk premia in European government bond markets declined markedly and have reverted approximately to their pre-crisis levels (Figure 12).