The Federal Reserve may ease up on its buying of U.S. Treasury notes and bonds, reports the Wall Street Journal (subs. requ'd.). Buying Treasurys has been a key part of its plan to get cash to financial institutions, stimulate lending and drive down the interest rate. The paper says Fed officials think the economy has begun to stabilize, so it can back off the buying.

After the jump, an actual slideshow of charts about Treasury notes -- and more.

[Photo]

This slideshow requires version 8 or higher of the Adobe Flash Player. Get the latest Flash Player.

TEXT.

Having trouble with the slideshow? Try this one.

As you can see in the charts above, the latest numbers show that other countries continue buying Treasurys, which of course means they're lending money to the U.S.

Now a peek inside the Federal Reserve:

description

Click to enlarge. Win Thin of Brown Brothers Harriman

 

The blue swath above tracks the Federal Reserve's holdings of U.S. Treasuries, which grew as the Fed bought them from banks during the economic crisis -- a process you could call "quantitative easing" or "printing money."

Win Thin, a currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman, notes that foreign central banks were parking record levels of their wealth in the Federal Reserve as of June 10. They may worry about U.S. inflation, but they don't seem to be running from the American dollar.

categories: Understanding The Crisis

1:51 - June 12, 2009

What is this?

Share