Tag Archives: Treasury

Effects of Operation Twist

by Guest Author: James D. Hamilton
The Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday ([1], [2]) that it will sell some of its shorter-term assets in order to buy more longer-term assets. Here I assess some of the possible consequences of this move.

The modest effects that one could reasonably anticipate for a measure like operation twist are easily swamped by other developments, and even a sizable effect on 30-year Treasury yields would not in my mind provide a major stimulus. I think the correct interpretation is that the Fed would like to bring some more stimulus, this was something they could do in that direction, so they did it.

But if you were about to drown, I wouldn’t want to count on operation twist as your lifeline to safety. Continue reading

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Economic Meltdown 2.0

The low rate of USA treasury return says the economy will not grow – and will likely contract (a la Japan). This is the investors’ long term economic forecast. Continue reading

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Bloggers Visit Treasury

The Treasury Department has started a program to make top Treasury officials, including the Secretary of the Treasury, available for give-and-take discussions (off the record, no attributed quotes allowed) with small groups of bloggers. The author was privileged to be one of seven guests to attend such a meeting on August 16, 2010. The meeting involved some contentious discussion and lasted for 2 1/2 hours. 30 minutes more than the scheduled time. This is the first of the author’s reports on that experience. Continue reading

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