U.S. GOES JAPAN: Federal Reserve is now a top-five holder of corporate bond ETFs

Everyone used to laugh at the Bank of Japan (BoJ) for being the largest stakeholder on the Nikkei.

Wall Street said that could never happen in the United States.

Well, here we are.

The Federal Reserve is now officially a top-five holder of corporate bond exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

From Zero Hedge:

“While the Fed’s own disclosure of which ETFs it owns is minimal on its own H.4.1 weekly filing, Bloomberg has been kind enough to compile the Fed’s bond ETF holdings. What it has found is the following: the Fed now owns $6.8 billion market value in corporate bond ETF, of which LQD, VCSH, VCIT, and IGSB are the top holdings. In total, the Fed now has a stake in no less than 16 ETFs (that Bloomberg is aware of).”

Here is also a chart from Bloomberg:

As we recently reported, it now owns corporate bond ETFs that have exposure to not just the titans of Wall Street, but also Walmart, Ford, and even a utility that is owned by Berkshire Hathaway.

All what is left is for the Fed to buy individual stocks.