Here’s what the ECB has been buying with the special pandemic asset-purchase program that it is set to expand

So far, the ECB has focused nearly all of PEPP on government bonds. It purchased €186.6 billion of public-sector securities using the program.

It disproportionately bought Italian bonds relative to what’s called its capital key, with Spain and perhaps surprisingly Germany a winner, while France was the main loser, according to an analysis from Pictet Wealth Management strategist Frederik Ducrozet.

(The ECB’s capital key is each country’s share of the capital of the central bank, which is based on population and GDP.)

The ECB’s actions have helped to limit the spread between Italian bond yields and Germany’s.

The yield on the 10-year Italian government bond TMBMKIT-10Y, 1.509% has dropped to 1.52% on Tuesday from 2.38% in the middle of March.

The yield on the 10-year German government bond TMBMKDE-10Y, -0.411%, which has been negative for more than a year, was -0.41%.

The ECB also stepped into the commercial paper market, buying €35 billion of securities there, while it is only purchased €10.6 billion of corporate bonds.

Isabel Schnabel, an ECB executive board member, said in an interview with Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik that the program helped to calm financial markets.

Ahead of the ECB move in March, equity prices, as gauged by the Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, +1.46%, continued to fall, the spreads on government bonds widened noticeably and market liquidity dried up, she said. “You could observe the financial market data deteriorating by the second. The ensuing risks to growth, employment and price developments were considerable,” she said. “PEPP calmed the markets and contained fragmentation in the euro area.”