Euro zone yields were already edging down, tracking moves in US Treasuries, which were affected by an auction of benchmark 10-year notes that was not as bad as feared.
The ECB barely increased its emergency bond purchases in recent weeks, stoking doubts about the bank's resolve to calm market nerves and support indebted governments through the pandemic.
The European Central Bank is likely to signal faster money printing on Thursday to keep a lid on borrowing costs but it will stop short of adding firepower to its already aggressive pandemic-fighting package.
The ECB bought 18.2 billion euros worth of bonds on a gross basis - that is, before taking out redemptions - under its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme last week, the data showed.
ECB policymakers appeared divided on the question of greater market intervention ahead of their policy meeting on Thursday.
A series of one-off effects is expected to see consumer prices climb further this year and perhaps even overshoot the target, complicating the ECB's job.
Some policymakers argue that the steady increase in bond yields is an unwarranted increase while others argue that it is a reflection of what is likely to be a robust recovery in both growth and inflation after the pandemic.
"These developments underline the importance of avoiding premature increases in nominal interest rates," de Cos added.
The ECB will next meet on March 11 and while an outright increase in the 1.85 trillion-euro Pandemic Emergency Bond Purchase quota is not likely, the ECB could say it will increase the flow of purchases to cap yields.
The large redemptions meant the ECB added just 13.7 billion euros worth of debt to its holdings in the five days to Feb. 26, less than some investors were expecting.
"We should not hesitate to increase the volume of purchases and to spend the entire PEPP envelope or more if needed," Panetta said in a speech.
Just under 1 trillion euros ($1.20 trillion) of the ECB's PEPP quota is still unused and until the recent yield rise, policymakers argued that the ECB did not necessarily have to spend this amount.
US bank Wells Fargo said it has expanded its precious metals trading business, filling gaps in the market left by the withdrawal of Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank).
"At this stage, an excessive tightening in yields would be inconsistent with fighting the pandemic shock to the inflation path," he told Expansión in an interview.
The calculations are likely to fuel a debate in Germany about when Berlin should end massive deficit-spending triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, and return to the fiscal rules of a debt brake that parliament suspended for 2020 and 2021.
Deputy Finance Minister Bettina Hagedorn said the calculations were only estimates and fraught with uncertainty due to the long time period.
ECB President Christine Lagarde said on Monday the central bank was "closely monitoring" rising borrowing costs - a comment that knocked Germany's 10-year Bund yield off its eight-month high.
The ECB's strategy "is not to burn too much cash trying to lean against the wind - rather to intervene verbally", he said, citing lower levels of ECB bond-buying last week.
Clearers in Britain have EU permission to continue clearing for EU customers until mid-2022 to give banks time to shift their euro positions to the continent, but switching has been slow.
"The objective of this discussion is to ensure that the Commission is aware of all possible impediments, obstacles and opportunities," the document prepared for the meeting said.
Risk-free overnight indexed swap rates and sovereign yields are particularly important, because they are good early indicators of what happens at downstream stages of monetary policy transmission.
"Accordingly, the ECB is closely monitoring the evolution of longer-term nominal bond yields," she said.
A stateless currency can last for a certain amount of time but then there is a need for a state and a budget union.
Visco's message was similar to the one given by former ECB chief Mario Draghi last week in his maiden speech to parliament as Italy's new prime minister.
The ECB already examines the suitability of board candidates in a so-called fit and proper assessment, but rules across the 19 euro zone members vary, so the quality of these checks can be inconsistent.
Supervisors will consider furthermore all of the diversity-related aspects that are most relevant to enhancing the individual and collective leadership of boards.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde declared this month that bitcoin was "not a currency" and was a "highly speculative" asset requiring global regulation.
Concerns were voiced ... over developments in the exchange rate that might have negative implications for euro area financial conditions and, ultimately, consequences for the inflation outlook.
It was maintained that not every increase in nominal yields should be interpreted as an unwarranted tightening of financing conditions and trigger a corresponding policy response.
In a second speech on Wednesday evening, he also pleaded for a revival of a failed policy: forcing EU countries to each take a share of the migrants arriving from across the Mediterranean, after years of Italy shouldering much of the burden.