The Federal Reserve will expand its program to replace short-term bonds with longer-term debt by $267 billion through the end of the year in a bid to reduce unemployment and protect the expansion.
The continuation of Operation Twist “should put downward pressure on longer-term interest rates and help to make broader financial conditions more accommodative,” the Federal Open Market Committee said on Wednesday in a statement at the conclusion of a two-day meeting in Washington. Stocks and Treasury yields dropped after the statement.
“Growth in employment has slowed in recent months, and the unemployment rate remains elevated,” the FOMC said. “Household spending appears to be rising at a somewhat slower pace than earlier in the year.”
Policy makers led by Chairman Ben S Bernanke are taking steps to shore up the world’s largest economy as faltering growth leaves it vulnerable to fallout from the European debt crisis and looming fiscal tightening in the US Payrolls expanded at the slowest pace in a year in May, and the jobless rate has been stuck above 8 percent since February 2009.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.6 per cent at 12:35 pm in New York from as high as 1.6 per cent earlier on Wednesday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.7 per cent to 1,349.18.
Policy makers left unchanged their view that economic conditions will probably warrant keeping interest rates “exceptionally low” at least through late 2014. The FOMC has kept the main interest rate in a range of zero to 0.25 per cent since December 2008.
The Fed said it is “prepared to take further action as appropriate to promote a stronger economic recovery and sustain improvement in labor market conditions in a context of price stability.”
The Fed said on Wednesday it will sell Treasury securities with remaining maturities of about three years or less. It will purchase securities with six years to 30 years remaining. The existing maturity extension program, known as Operation Twist, was announced in September and expires this month. Under that program, the Fed is selling $400 billion of short-term government debt and replacing it with the same amount of longer- term Treasuries.
The Fed left unchanged its policy of reinvesting its portfolio of maturing housing debt into agency mortgage-backed securities.
Inflation “has declined, mainly reflecting lower prices of crude oil and gasoline, and longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable,” the Fed said on Wednesday. Oil prices have slumped 23 per cent to $84.03 a barrel yesterday since reaching a high of $109.77 a barrel in February, while the national average cost of gasoline has declined to $3.49 a gallon from a 2012 peak of $3.94 in April, according to data compiled by the American Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker dissented for the fourth meeting in a row, saying he doesn’t support extending Operation Twist. He said last month he believes the central bank will probably need to raise the main interest rate next year. It was the first meeting for Governors Jeremy Stein and Jerome Powell, who joined the Fed last month, raising the Washington-based board to its full, seven-member strength for the first time since 2006.
US central bankers at 2 pm plan to release updated projections for economic growth, inflation and unemployment for the next three years. Chairman Ben S Bernanke is scheduled to hold a press conference at 2:15 pm in Washington.
Fifty-eight percent of economists in a June 18 Bloomberg News survey said the FOMC would prolong Operation Twist, with an additional 8 per cent predicting the Fed would announce the move at its meeting on July 31-August 1. 11 per cent predicted a third round of large-scale asset purchases, or quantitative easing.
Central banks across the world are considering steps to stimulate their economies. Bank of England Governor Mervyn King and three other policy makers were overruled this month as they pushed to expand their bank’s bond-purchase program, meeting minutes showed on Wednesday. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi left the door open for a rate cut at a June 6 press conference.
The Bank of Japan should be ready to “take appropriate actions without ruling out any options in advance” if the European crisis worsens, some of its board members said in May, according to minutes released on Wednesday. The People’s Bank of China cut borrowing costs for the first time since 2008 earlier this month and loosened controls on banks’ lending and deposit rates.
Europe’s debt crisis has intensified since the FOMC’s meeting in April, roiling financial markets. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down by 4.3 per cent as of yesterday from its 2012 peak on April 2.
Since the Fed announced Operation Twist on Sept. 21, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note declined to 1.62 per cent as of yesterday from 1.86 per cent. It fell to a record low 1.4387 on June 1.
Spanish 10-year bond yields rose above 7 per cent for the first time this week in the shared-currency era even after Spain said it will seek a euro 100 billion ($127 billion) rescue for its banks.
Global asset prices have rallied since Greek election results stirred speculation the nation won’t exit the euro, and on expectations the Fed would take action to spur growth.
The Fed’s two rounds of asset purchases totaling $2.3 trillion and record-low interest rates since December 2008 have left the central bank short of its full-employment goal.
The economy added 69,000 jobs in May, the fewest in a year, and the unemployment rate unexpectedly climbed to 8.2 per cent from 8.1 per cent, its first increase in almost a year.
Policy makers in April forecast an unemployment rate of 7.8 per cent to 8 per cent in the fourth quarter of this year and 7.3 per cent to 7.7 per cent at the end of 2013. Their employment goal is 5.2 per cent to 6 per cent, according to April’s central tendency forecasts.
Companies are cutting back as the economy shows signs of slowing. FedEx Corp., operator of the world’s largest cargo airline, is restructuring its express business and retiring 24 jet freighters.
“We believe US domestic and global economic conditions will be impacted by the European debt crisis, slowing growth in Asia and the uncertainty these issues create on the global economy and the demand for our services,” FedEx Chief Financial Officer Alan Graf said yesterday on an earnings call.
Also taking a toll on the economy: concern that Congress will fail to reach a compromise in time to avoid $600 billion in tax increases and budget cuts next year.
Among government contractors coping with delayed procurements and agency cost-cutting is Preferred Systems Solutions, a Vienna, Virginia-based engineering and information technology provider.
“I’m feeling more of a pinch and squeeze than I ever have before,” said Scott Goss, president and chief executive officer. “As soon as they start these massive cuts, they’re going to impact the economy.”
Economic data in recent weeks have pointed to slowing growth.
Retail sales fell 0.2 per cent for a second month in May, according to a June 13 report from the Commerce Department, as elevated unemployment and the smallest wage gains in a year prompted consumers to curtail their spending.
Industrial production unexpectedly fell in May for the second time in three months as factories turned out fewer vehicles and consumer goods, data from the Fed showed last week.
On the other hand, housing, the industry at the heart of the financial crisis, has shown some signs of recovery.
Homebuilders broke ground on more single-family houses for a third consecutive month in May and rising construction permits pointed to further gains.
Borrowing costs near record lows are prompting home purchases, said Douglas Yearley, chief executive officer of Toll Brothers, a luxury homebuilder based in Horsham, Pennsylvania.
“There is huge pent-up demand that has built over the last four years,” Yearley said at a June 14 conference. “It’s been seven years since this all began to turn down and you have people that are just ready to move on with their lives, take advantage of great interest rates.”
The average rate on a 30-year, fixed mortgage fell to a record 3.67 per cent in the first week of June, according to Freddie Mac.
The Fed’s actions may influence the November presidential election. Unemployment and the economy are a central issue as Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, challenges President Barack Obama.
Romney, who has charged Obama with mismanaging the economy, said in a June 17 CBS News interview that quantitative easing didn’t yield the intended benefits and a third round wouldn’t either.
The second round “was not extraordinarily harmful, but it does put in question the future value of the dollar and it will obviously encourage some inflation,” Romney said. “A QE3 would do the same thing.”
