Federal Reserve Cuts Monthly Bond Purchases Down To $45B Despite Anemic Growth
The Federal Reserve will reduce its monthly
The Federal Reserve will reduce its monthly
The Federal Reserve caused a market rally
The Fed QE3 bond-buying program will be
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced that no changes to its bond buying program will occur, and that it will be holding interest rates steady at near zero. The inactivity by the Fed came as a surprise because a reduction to the central bank’s $85 billion monthly purchases of mortgage-backed securities and government bonds, known as quantitative easing, was widely expected.
The Labor Department released the June jobs report, which reports that nonfarm payrolls jumped by 195,000 in June, coming in well above expectations of 165,000. The May job increase was also revised higher by 20,000 to 195,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 7.6%, compared to economists’ expectations that it would fall to 7.5%. The labor force participation rate rose in June to 63.5% from 63.4% in May. U.S. stock-index futures extended gains on the back of the report.
