
CHICAGO: The US central bank on Thursday said it will launch a fresh round of bond-buying to stimulate the economy, purchasing $40 billion of mortgage debt each month until the outlook for jobs improves substantially. But just what does this so-called quantitative easing entail, and how does it work? Here are five questions and answers about it:
WHAT IS QUANTITATIVE EASING?
A central bank buys large amounts of assets -- in this case, bonds backed by housing mortgages -- in an effort to bring down interest rates and boost the economy. The Federal Reserve has tried quantitative easing twice before, thus earning this round the designation QE3.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
To buy bonds, the Fed essentially creates money from nothing........... PRINTING MONEY LAH
NEW YORK: The Federal Reserve's announcement of an open-ended QE3 programme and pledge of low rates until mid-2015 sent the dollar falling on Thursday against major currencies.
Although some monetary easing action was expected, the stance of the Fed's policy board, declaring that easing measures would stay in place indefinitely until the jobs market improves substantially, was stronger than expected.
At 2100 GMT, the euro was at $1.2986, up from $1.2899. It momentarily topped the $1.30 level for the first time since early May.
The dollar fell to 77.48 yen from 77.84 yen, and to 0.9353 Swiss francs from 0.9372 francs. The British pound pushed up to $1.6152 from $1.6107.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?
Time to stck up on properties/gold/ stocks...?
Char kway teow to be $5 soon....