Fed bailout continues for the fourth day
Sep 20, 2019
Call it QE4 (Quantitative Easing), if you will. The Fed is creating $75 billion per day to keep the bank liquid and to prevent a 2008-style meltdown. This shows how precarious the banking system actually is these days. So far QE4 seems to be working, but, of course, the problem is systemic.
The Federal Reserve added liquidity for a fourth straight day to a vital corner of the funding markets, helping further stabilize rates as investors remain concerned that fresh bouts of stress may be felt in the weeks ahead.
The New York Fed injected another $75 billion Friday through an overnight repo operation. That followed operations of the same size on Wednesday and Thursday, and $53.2 billion on Tuesday. The actions, commonplace in pre-financial crisis times, temporarily add cash, with the Fed taking government securities as collateral. Wall Street bond dealers submitted about $75.6 billion of securities for Friday’s Fed action, lower than the previous two days’ levels. Many analysts are already predicting the Fed will do a similar operation on Monday.