Quantitative Easing has become banal, a fine-tuning tool like any other. It is by now drained of all drama. Even the Federal Reserve’s hawks have lost the will to resist. Five of the six critics acquiesced.
The Fed will buy a further $40bn (£25bn) of mortgage bonds each month until the jobs market improves “substantially”, and more if need be. It is open-ended. Zero interest rates will continue until mid-2015.
It is pocket-sized compared with the pace of $75bn a month in the QE heyday, or the 500 basis point rate cuts at the onset of the Great Recession. This is calibrated, not full-throttle.
