Fed to buy more bonds, sets jobless threshold
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The Federal Reserve announced a new bond-buying program Wednesday in fresh action to keep the recovery going in the languishing jobs market and, in a surprise, set thresholds on unemployment and inflation to guide the market about when it will eventually hike rates.The new purchases of $45 billion of Treasurys are designed to keep the total pace of its asset purchases at $85 billion a month. Without the action, the Fed purchases would have been reduced at year-end when an existing program to swap short-term debt for longer-term Treasurys is set to expire. The Fed said it would keep the $45 billion pace “initially,” suggesting it may review the size of the purchases.The Fed also kept its existing program to buy $40 billion a month in mortgage-backed securities. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-to-buy-m...atest_news