08.09.11

Fed Announcement

Posted in Economics, Financial Markets, Politics and Policy at 7:25 pm

The Fed announced at 2:15 that it would hold the Federal Funds rate near zero for 2 years.

More significant was what it did NOT announce:

• It did not announce it would keep rolling over its bond portfolio for 2 years.
• It did not announce it would change the composition of its bond portfolio to longer maturity bonds.
• It did not announce it would cut the interest rate (0.25%) it pays on bank reserves.
• It certainly did not announce QE3.

The immediate market reaction was predictably negative – market consensus was for more action by the Fed.

However, that reaction was short-lived, and the market soon took off like a rocket.  Very odd.

Permalink