QE3 is Possible, but...

When one thinks about the Fed these days, the most common question which comes to mind is “When?” – When will Bernanke and his colleagues finally announce QE3? It’s been already more than a year since QE2 finished and the talk about the next round has begun. The question is as pressing as it could be as the Federal Reserve announces its policy stance tomorrow. Experts answer: “Later, not tomorrow”. 

Rabobank: “The fact that the Committee extended its current asset purchase program, Operation Twist, at its last meeting in June would present a substantial hurdle to launching another asset purchase program (QE3 or sterilized purchases) this week. The Committee may prefer to have some ammunition left to offset the fiscal cliff, which will present itself at the start of 2013. Therefore, we would probably have to see a further deterioration in economic data or at least a prolonged episode of the weak data that we are seeing now, before the Fed makes that decision. However, the Fed does have other options that may offer some support in the meantime.”

NAB: “With little momentum in the economy, a high level of uncertainty about the future pace of growth and both unemployment and inflation below the Fed’s view of their desirable level, additional monetary easing is extremely likely. We suspect this won’t mean an announcement of additional QE following the meeting currently underway, given ‘operation twist’, which is intended to impact on the economy in a similar way to QE, extended in the previous meeting this appears too soon. A more likely intermediate step would be to extend the Fed’s forward guidance on how long the Feds Fund Rate will remain exceptionally low from late 2014 into 2015. However, the Fed Chairman has explicitly identified further QE as one of the measures they would consider if they decided to ease policy further. Therefore, additional QE is possible, although it may be kept in reserve for now.”