Friday, September 14, 2012

When Big Ben Speaks.....

When Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal reserve speaks, the world listens. He spoke today (Sep 13, 2012) at 2.15 pm EST. And the Dow Jones Industrial Average burst out in celebration, ending the day up by over 200 points. He must have said something nice!

















DJIA Courtesy: Yahoo Finance

What did he say?
  • The Fed has decided to buy $ 40 billion worth of Mortgage Backed Securities every month continuously, until the dire unemployment situation improves
    • This will drive down mortgage rates and encourage more home buying
    • This will also drive mortgage investors to corporate bonds thereby increasing investments in other areas of the economy as well

What does this mean for the common man?
  • More jobs? Maybe! Please refer to Case 1 on Monetary Policy to understand how interest rates are related to employment.
  • A stock market bonanza? The stock market is very fickle. The benefit will last only until the next piece of news arrives. But we have already seen a 200pt improvement today and that is very good. With today's statement, the Fed has signaled to the market that it is willing to take bold steps to improve the economy and the market liked it.