Posted on 03/15/2020 2:12:17 PM PDT by billyboy15
The Federal Reserve, saying the coronavirus outbreak has harmed communities and disrupted economic activity in many countries, including the United States, cut interest rates to zero on Sunday and launched a massive $700 billion quantitative easing program to shelter the economy from the effects of the virus.
Facing highly disrupted financial markets, the Fed also slashed the rate of emergency lending at the discount window for banks by 125 bps to 0.25%, and lengthened the term of loans to 90 days.
The Fed also cut reserve requirement ratios for thousands of banks to zero. In addition, in a global coordinated move by centrals banks, the Fed said the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank took action to enhance dollar liquidity around the world through existing dollar swap arrangements.
The banks lowered the rate on these swap line loans and extended the period for such loans. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to hold a press conference via telephone at 6 pm eastern time. The actions by the Fed appeared to be the largest single day set of moves the bank had ever taken, mirroring in many ways its efforts during the financial crisis that were rolled out over several months.
The quantitative easing will take the form of $500 billion of treasuries and $200 billion of agency-backed mortgage securities. The Fed said the purchases will begin Monday with a $40 billion installment.
The Fed cut rates to a new range of 0% to 0.25% from 1% to 1.25% and said it would remain there until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goals.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
How about going to lunch every day at a deli near where I worked. Sorry I didn't take notes for you.
I also can't provide evidence that the sky is blue where I live.
Any disruption would be trivial compared to would happen if the markets drop another 20-30%.
The markets are definitely dropping another 20%-30%. It’s just a matter of whether it is tomorrow or in a month or three.
Not if they have to sacrifice themselves to do it.
So much for principle.
As of now, the only victory is massive more debt. Savers have been crushed. Asset prices have been inflated and our budgets haven't been curtailed.
Get ready for it. It aint near being over.
A Whiff? It’s a full blown stink.
I hope the treasury can take advantage of these low rates.
Watch our federal interest payments start dropping as bills retire.
I’ve tried refinancing my house but refi rates aren’t dropping bc there is so much demand and so therefore banks are keeping those rates steady around 3.75%. They say its bc their staff can’t keep up with demand, i think they are milking consumer. If rates went down where they should be, its more money for us to help economy
SON OF A B*TCH!!!!
There's no shortage of gov't things and people who I'd like to have repo'd.
Closing the markets would be the ultimate act of panic, and would guarantee a major recession.
The Banksters already have you on the hook...
This insane move will cause an over-extension of credit - or mal-investment, as Austrian Economists call it - this is REALLY OUTRAGEOUS
Hence my call to close the markets for at least the next 30 days.
When do mortgage rates go down? Been watching but I don’t see anything favorable.
Suggestions on what they should have done?
Yep, just checked, Dow futures for Monday were down big before the announcement, now down only 310 points. (2:33pm PDT).
What does this mean?
Will I be able to refinance my home at a lower rate if I decide to?
Thank you.
Well I was gonna refi my house, but a 30 day shutdown would certainly kill that plan...
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