Bankruptcy

Federal Reserve Starts Buying Treasuries, Balloons Balance Sheet

By mcbride

“The Federal Reserve?s balance sheet reached a record $2.39 trillion as the central bank increased its holdings of Treasury securities as part of a bid to boost economic growth.

Treasuries held by the Fed increased by $32.2 billion to $949.6 billion as of Dec. 8, according to a weekly release by the central bank today, while the Fed?s holdings of mortgage- backed securities and federal agency debt securities were unchanged.

The Fed has bought $106.3 billion in Treasuries on its way to purchasing $600 billion of government debt through June 2011. Separately, it has purchased $75.8 billion of Treasuries as part of its plan, announced in August, to reinvest maturing mortgage holdings. The second round of unconventional monetary easing is aimed at spurring economic growth and preventing inflation from falling too low. ”

Here is a link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-09/fed-assets-reach-record-2-39-trillion-on-purchases-of-bonds.html

Michael

Full post as published by Texas Lawyer Blog on December 09, 2010 (boomark / email).