US QE3 chances of success 'finely balanced'

Last night the US Federal Reserve's chairman Ben Bernanke announced a third round of QE which will see the central bank pump $40bn in the economy every month in a bid to boost the economic recovery. The Fed will focus on buying mortgage backed securities (MBS) and has said it will continue to pump money into the system well into the recovery, setting no end date. It has also committed to leave its policy rate at near zero until mid-2015. However, Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics, said the QE package was smaller than he would have expected, as it works out as €480...