Operation Twist

By Howard Simons Let's not mince words: If any of the massive fiscal and monetary interventions undertaken since the start of the financial crisis worked, we would not be talking about doing more of the same. The mission would have been accomplished by now. Imagine, then, my surprise upon...

The New York Federal Reserve sold $8.87 billion in U.S. Treasury debt during its permanent open market operations (POMO) today as part of its Operation Twist program. Dealers tried to buy $31.264 billion worth of debt, with the government receiving almost four bids for every one it sold....

The New York Federal Reserve purchased $2.502 billion in U.S. Treasury debt during its permanent open market operations (POMO) today as part of its Operation Twist program. Dealers submitted $7.395 billion worth of debt, with the government receiving almost four bids for every one it accepted....

The New York Federal Reserve purchased $4.597 billion in U.S. Treasury debt during its permanent open market operations (POMO) today as part of its Operation Twist program. Dealers submitted $14.835 billion worth of debt, with the government receiving almost three bids for every one it accepted....

The New York Federal Reserve purchased $4.881 billion in U.S. Treasury debt during its permanent open market operations (POMO) today as part of its Operation Twist program. Dealers submitted $17.421 billion worth of debt, with the government receiving almost four bids for every one it accepted....

The New York Federal Reserve purchased $2.502 billion in U.S. Treasury debt during its permanent open market operations (POMO) today as part of its Operation Twist program. Dealers submitted $7.449 billion worth of debt, with the government receiving almost three bids for every one it accepted....

My email box is almost always full of posts from readers that want to know when the government is going to go back on the gold standard. I am sorry to say but they just don't get it. We have had a gold standard and all the government did was print more dollars than there was gold at the “standard...

The New York Federal Reserve purchased $1.369 billion in U.S. Treasury debt during its permanent open market operations (POMO) today as part of its Operation Twist program. Dealers submitted $4.887 billion worth of debt, with the government receiving almost four bids for every one it accepted....

For the last several weeks I have had readers mailing me asking why gold and silver have been selling off. The answer is very simple. There is a strong correlation between a strong dollar and weak commodities. The dollar is no different than anything on earth – it will always follow the path of...

Since Operation Twist was announced earlier this month, many have already declared it a failure, as stocks have fallen, volatility has continued to remain extremely high, and the purpose of it (to lower long term rates), is not going to really have much of an impact on the economy, as rates are...

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Yesterday the Federal Reserve announced Operation Twist, which is being used to drive down interest rates on 10 year U.S. Treasuries. The problem is, the Federal Reserve has already failed with the program before it has even started. It was designed to drive down rates on U.S. Treasuries (which...

On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee released its decision on interest rates. The FOMC opted to leave rates unchanged, as nearly all analysts had anticipated. Rather, the key news from the meeting was that the FOMC had decided to conduct a second "Operation Twist." Under the plan, the...

Following the initial spike lower, equity markets are little changed following the FOMC rate decision. The FOMC decided to enact a form of Operation Twist, buying $400 billion worth of longer dated Treasuries, in the six to thirty year space, and selling three years or less. The Fed will spend...

As I said a few weeks ago, the Fed will use the Wall Street Journal's Jon Hilsenrath as a source to leak what they will be doing in the late September meeting.  The market does not like surprises so Ben wants the whole world to be prepared ahead of time.  Jon's latest story could not be titled in a...