Fed Quietly Buys $43,600,000,000 in US Treasuries in Alleged 'Stealth QE' Operation After China Abruptly Dumps Billions

[littlemissmartypants]

Fed Quietly Buys $43,600,000,000 in US Treasuries in Alleged ‘Stealth QE’ Operation After China Abruptly Dumps Billions in Bonds

Daily Hodl Staff May 24, 2025

The Federal Reserve just bought $43.6 billion in US treasuries in the span of a week, sparking concerns that a quiet quantitative easing operation is underway.

New documents show the Fed purchased $8.8 billion in 30-year bonds on May 8th via its System Open Market Account (SOMA) – a move that followed a $34.8 billion purchase earlier that same week.

The move has triggered allegations that “stealth QE” has arrived, with a MarketWatch op-ed by Charlie Garcia calling the move “monetary policy on tiptoes.”

The Fed has long stated such purchases are routine reinvestments of maturing securities to adjust the money supply and influence interest rates to meet its targets.
Snip...
https://dailyhodl.com/2025/05/24/fed-quietly-buys-43600000000-in-us-treasuries-in-alleged-stealth-qe-operation-after-china-abruptly-dumps-billions-in-bonds/

[Joinfortmill]

1. May be a good thing. It's a bit over my head.

[bhikkhu]

3. The inflation we've had since covid is the result of QE

Not that I'm an economist, but the whole thing is pretty simple; when there are not enough customers for the treasury bonds that we sell to fund government operations, the fed can come in and buy them. It's basically the "running the printing presses" thing that people complain about, and it dumps money into the system and causes inflation. If the bond markets don't trust the $ anymore (and secret QE is another reason not to trust it), it's not going to take long for things to take a bad turn.

[Jacson6]

4. Basically they are monetizing the debt.

This can lead to a runaway devalued currency and hyper inflation.

I'm sure China is refusing to buy US bonds due to President Chao's tariff madness.

[rubbersole]

2. "quantitative easing" is another term for "oh, shit"...

The bond markets appear to be America's canary in the coal mine.

[Exp]

5. So, we're buying our own debt which seems to translate to printing more dollars. Ooops! The word "trans" was in my

subject line.

Hope I didn't offend any Republicons.

[Buddyzbuddy]

6. This is exactly what the Felon accused China of doing in his first term.

If you can't make it, then fake it. A healthy economy wouldn't have to do this.

[Pluvious]

7. This might be misleading...

I posted about this past Fed action about ten days ago, and was rightly corrected by some helpful DUers...

This purchase action was most likely just routine "roll-overs," something explained here:
https://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/opolicy/operating_policy_250319

If you view this data:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TREAST

You can see no such impact on total assets shows up on the chart.

Here is my original post:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220320760

Cheers friend.

[scipan]

8. thanks. du has some knowledgeable people to set us straight. nt

[CNYHarris]

9. If those globally that hate the TFG bought one ounce of physical silver for $40

...Trump could not win, the Trump agenda would crash and burn.

If you want to know why, ask a libertarian. It would not be an investment to make money, it would be the end of MAGA Washington.

[modrepub]

10. Between On And Off Tariffs and General Incompetence

I'd bet Trump will trash and burn the US economy by sometime in late summer. The world bond markets don't seem to like major economies generating huge amounts of debt.