News Story of the Day: Federal Reserve is expanding its asset purchasing program at the municipal level.
The U.S. central bank announced on Friday that it will begin to buy state and municipal bonds as part of its latest quantitative easing efforts (four or five?). The Fed has just been acquiring Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities, but it says delving into the muni bond industry would “enhance the liquidity and functioning of crucial state and municipal money markets.”
From CNBC:
The program will work through the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility announced earlier this week and offers an expansion of what had been a financial crisis-era program authorizing purchases of other assets. Expanding into munis is something that did not happen during the crisis.
The Boston Fed will lend to eligible banks and other financial institutions that will be able to use single-state and other tax-exempt munis as collateral. Maturities can’t exceed 12 months.
It is unclear how much the Fed will be buying.
Chart of the Day: Some good news for once? Here is a Dow Jones chart courtesy of Nasdaq that may suggest a bottom.
Illustration of the Day: Sure, toilet paper may be bare right now, but producers are churning out huge volumes of this valuable good right now.
Quote of the Day: An interesting quote from Milton Friedman regarding a crisis:
“Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around.
Tweet of the Day: Mic drop moment indeed. Sure, the federal government has done a terrible job handling this pandemic, but this is still a great moment for President Donald Trump.
MIC DROP MOMENT!🎤
One of the best media take downs by President Trump EVER! LISTEN TO HIS WORDS! pic.twitter.com/nYHqcTCPkA
— Red Pilled Michelle 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@LilBlondie45) March 20, 2020
Video of the Day: After a great response to the wet markets story we brought you on Thursday, we thought it would be appropriate to share this excellent 60 Minutes Australia segment about this huge problem in Asia.
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