What the Federal Reserve Did: In Plain English (March 18, 2009)

Florida mortgage rates should remain low, as the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted to leave the Fed Funds Rate right where it’s been, within the target range of 0.000-0.250 percent.

That said, the Fed was far from inactive today.

On plan to resurrect the economy using “all available tools,” today, Uncle Ben and company announced a new, $1.5 trillion round of financial support for mortgage markets and the US Treasury. We’ll likely read about this in tomorrow morning’s headlines.

In its press release, the FOMC highlighted several economic issues, using them as proof of why this new round of funding is required:

• Consumer spending (and confidence) is taking a BRUCE LEE-style beating from job losses and wealth loss
• Some U.S. trading partners are falling into recession - no, we’re not the only ones hurting, folks.  China - for one, has expressed zero interest in lending  a helping hand at this point.  They have loads of US paper right now as it is.
• Businesses are cutting back on investment and inventory

Of interest is that the FOMC said today’s inflation levels may be too low to support any economic growth whatsoever.  If this is the case, it would mean that we’re entering into a period of deflation.  The Fed’s latest actions, therefore, may be a deliberate attempt to induce inflation (pump things back up) through unprecedented borrowing.

For home buyers and potential refinancers, the news is a bit brighter — at least for now.  By spurring increased demand for mortgage bonds, the Fed will help push mortgage rates lower.  Already this afternoon, mortgage rates fell and they will continue to fall until the market reaches a new leveling point.

Keep your eyes on mortgage rates. After the Fed’s last intervention, markets reached their balance point in about a day-and-a-half.

Source
Parsing the Fed Statement
The Wall Street Journal Online
March 18, 2009

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