QE: the Fed’s trillion headache

The US Federal Reserve has been clear that its policy of quantitative easing will only change when the data on unemployment and inflation changes. Meanwhile pressure from this policy is building in the banking sector, as well as the treasury and repo markets. As bank chief executives prepare to make their case to the Senate banking committee, is it time for Fed chair Jerome Powell to think again?

The problem with QE infinity is that it goes on for rather a long time. As a result, large US banks now face an existential crisis due to the volume of bank reserves the US Federal Reserve is creating as part of its monetary policy response to the Covid-19 crisis.

The chief executives of JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citi and Morgan Stanley are now busy preparing for this week’s hearings of the Senate banking committee on Wednesday and the House financial services committee on Thursday.

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