WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve will buy $105 billion worth of government bonds starting this week as it launches a new program to invigorate the economy.
The bonds will be purchased through a series of 18 operations that start Friday and end Dec. 9, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Wednesday.
The purchases are the first since the Fed announced last week that it will buy a total of $600 billion worth of Treasury bonds over the next eight months.
The Fed’s announcement Wednesday helped to boost stock and bond prices. Treasurys moved higher after the auction of $16 billion in 30-year bonds and after the Fed laid out its bond-buying schedule.
Through the bond purchases, the Fed intends to push rates even lower on mortgages, corporate debt and other loans.
Mortgage rates have sunk to their lowest levels in decades just in anticipation of the Fed’s action.
However, some Fed officials and economists don’t think the program will do much to rev up the economy and lower unemployment. The Associated Press
