The Federal Reserve has unleashed a third round of quantitative easing (QE) to support the US economy following a wave of poor data and a weakening labour market.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has agreed to an open-ended QE programme which will see it buy additional mortgage-backed securities at a rate of $40bn per month. The new purchases combined with the efforts of Operation Twist - another programme designed to boost the nation's economy - will see the Fed buy some $85bn a month of bonds up to the end of the year. This latest action should put downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, support mortgage markets, and help to make broader financial conditions more accommodative, it said in a statement. It also said the targ...
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