The Fed did the “twist” after all: Easing and no change to interest rates. The important bits from today’s announcement:
Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability.
Translation: Take your letter, Republicans, and shove it.
The Committee intends to purchase, by the end of June 2012, $400 billion of Treasury securities with remaining maturities of 6 years to 30 years and to sell an equal amount of Treasury securities with remaining maturities of 3 years or less.
Translation: A large amount of quantative easing, though not as much as monetary stimulus hawks would have liked.
Inflation appears to have moderated since earlier in the year as prices of energy and some commodities have declined from their peaks.
Translation: We are not worried about inflation. You shouldn’t be, either. But we’re not going to get too risky.
I’ll have more on all of this later today.
