The Fed has announced this morning a number of further actions in order to support the functioning of the economy and the financial system. It can be considered the “ultimate” in terms of central bank action. It will involve USD 600 billion worth of asset purchases this week alone, and essentially provides systems that will allow virtually every loan in the economy to be rolled over. These measures might have been at least in part motivated by the delay in the Senate's vote on the new COVID-19 package. The Fed can obviously operate at speed, and assuming the Senate will soon be able to pass its bill, these measures taken together ought to inspire confidence.

Quoting from the Fed’s press release:

• Support for critical market functioning. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will purchase Treasury securities and agency mortgage-backed securities in the amounts needed to support smooth market functioning and effective transmission of monetary policy to broader financial conditions and the economy. The FOMC had previously announced it would purchas at least $500 billion of Treasury securities and at least $200 billion of mortgage-backed securities. In addition, the FOMC will include purchases of agency commercial mortgagebacked securities in its agency mortgage-backed security purchases.
• Supporting the flow of credit to employers, consumers, and businesses by establishing new programs that, taken together, will provide up to $300 billion in new financing. The Department of the Treasury, using the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF), will provide $30 billion in equity to these facilities.
• Establishment of two facilities to support credit to large employers – the Primary Market Corporate Credit Facility (PMCCF) for new bond and loan issuance and the Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility (SMCCF) to provide liquidity for outstanding corporate bonds.
• Establishment of a third facility, the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF), to support the flow of credit to consumers and businesses. The TALF will enable the issuance of asset-backed securities (ABS) backed by student loans, auto loans, credit card loans, loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA), and certain other assets.
• Facilitating the flow of credit to municipalities by expanding the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility (MMLF) to include a wider range of securities, including municipal variable rate demand notes (VRDNs) and bank certificates of deposit.
• Facilitating the flow of credit to municipalities by expanding the Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF) to include high-quality, tax-exempt commercial paper as eligible securities. In addition, the pricing of the facility has been reduced.

 

In addition to the steps above, the Federal Reserve expects to announce soon the establishment of a Main Street Business Lending Program to support lending to eligible small-and-medium sized businesses, complementing efforts by the SBA.

These actions augment the measures taken by the Federal Reserve over the past week to support the flow of credit to households and businesses. These include:

• The establishment of the CPFF, the MMLF, and the Primary Dealer Credit Facility;
• The expansion of central bank liquidity swap lines;
• Steps to enhance the availability and ease terms for borrowing at the discount window;
• The elimination of reserve requirements;
• Guidance encouraging banks to be flexible with customers experiencing financial challenges related to the coronavirus and to utilize their liquidity and capital buffers in doing so;
• Statements encouraging the use of daylight credit at the Federal Reserve.