GOOD DAY FOR: Fed funds, after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Federal Reserve is asking Congress to allow it to issue its own debt to give it greater flexibility in dealing with the financial crisis. The Fed can print money until it runs out of ink, but the Treasury Department has jurisdiction over issuing government debt. With the Fed’s benchmark interest rate at 1 percent, it may be looking for more tools. (Reuters)
BAD DAY FOR: Investor confidence, after the U.S. Treasury auctioned off $30 billion in four-week T-bills at a yield of zero percent—buyers will get no profit when the bills mature—the same day that 3-month T-bills briefly traded on the secondary market with a -0.01 percent yield, meaning that buyers will lose money in the transaction. “We were all watching it agog,” said Treasury spokesman Steve Meyerhardt. The last time short-term Treasury yields were negative was in the 1930s. (Los Angeles Times)
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Humza Yousaf clears the decks to battle no-confidence voteSpeed Read First minister is 'done', according to insider, but a single vote could change the balance
-
Immunotherapy and hay feverThe Explainer Research shows that the treatment could provide significant relief from symptoms for many hay fever sufferers
-
The week's best photosIn Pictures A flooded island, a ballistic missile, and more
