A rally in European shares to near record highs and signs of a pick-up in inflation in big euro zone economies also weighed on euro area bonds, pushing 10-year yields up 4 to 5 basis points across the board.
In turn, Germany's 10-year bond yield rose over 5 bps to -0.26%, its highest level in almost two weeks. This left the gap with its US peers at just over 200 bps and near the widest levels in over a year.
There is a clear risk of self-fulfilling adverse dynamics taking hold, through which uncertain economic prospects induce households, firms and governments to hold back on expenditure plans, leading to a decline in overall demand that validates the loss in confidence about the future.
Hoping to prop up the economy until it is ready to reopen, the ECB has pushed borrowing costs to record lows through copious asset purchases and loans to banks at rates as low as minus 1%.
The number of new confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany rose the most since Jan. 9, while the number of people with COVID-19 in French intensive care units set a high for 2021.
"This underpins our cautious outlook for private consumption, which we do not see returning to pre-crisis levels before the end of 2022," it concluded.
The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.2pc, reversing declines from earlier in the session, with automobile stocks rising for a fifth day in the past six sessions.
"The near-term economic outlook is subject to uncertainty, relating in particular to the dynamics of the pandemic and the speed of vaccination campaigns," Lagarde said in a blog post on the ECB's website.
We therefore stand ready to adjust all of our instruments, as appropriate, to ensure that inflation moves towards our aim in a sustained manner, in line with our commitment to symmetry.
"In my view, this hybrid model could be a possible compromise way forward, as long as an EDIS with full risk-sharing, covering both liquidity needs and losses in the steady state, remains the end goal," de Guindos said in a speech.
"In the absence of further climate policies, the costs to companies arising from extreme weather events rise substantially, and greatly increase their probability of default."
"Inflation increased sharply in January and February, and is likely to go up further in the coming months," Elderson said in a Twitter Q&A.
"This is mainly due to transitory factors, which we look through. Underlying inflation remains subdued owing to weak demand and economic slack," he added.
Ten-year US Treasury yields rose to over 1.63%, their highest level since February 2020 and their German equivalents, the benchmark for the region, rose as high as -0.293%.
Italian 10-year yields, which outperformed the market on Thursday as the country is among the top beneficiaries of ECB bond buying, were up 5 basis points at 0.63%.
The ECB decided on Thursday to accelerate money-printing to keep a lid on euro zone borrowing costs, signalling to sceptical markets that it is determined to lay the foundation for a solid economic recovery.
"Biden just came in, the bill has already passed, and the check's going to be in the mail next week," one source said.
The sources said policymakers set on a monthly target for the its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme with a small tolerance band around it but agreed not to reveal it.
One of the sources said the ECB aimed to push down yields to where they were in December while another said improved economic prospects meant part of the recent increase in yields was justified.
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.