Did QE3 start already? Have we been expecting articles to come out and say it with "QE3" headlines only to find we must put the pieces together ourselves?
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By James Dailey, Investment Outlook blogger / PennLive / October 28, 2011
... Over the past couple of months, the Fed has now thrown out a number of bread crumbs that a major policy move was in the offing. First, there was Operation Twist, which by itself was a curious announcement given Ben Bernanke's luke warm assessment of that kind of policy in the past. It seems logical to us that Operation Twist was a foundation laid for additional policy action.
Next up, Bill Gross of PIMCO fame began to comment about the potential for further asset buying by the Fed (i.e. QEIII) targeting mortgage backed securities. ... The "click" moment last week happened for us after I received an email forwarding a WSJ article chronicling a Fed governor's speech on the subject (thanks again Rich). A major intervention in the mortgage market would "accomplish" a number of vital goals as laid out by the Fed and also address the political reality faced by incumbent politicians:
... Operation Twist was performed to drive long term rates down in order to help facilitate mortgage refinancing and make any refinancing even more potent as far as freeing up cash. ... The benefits from lower rates has been muted due to the lack of a transmission mechanism - namely that many cannot refinance. A major mortgage centered program could legitimately defrost some of the credit system, which could go a long way in putting a charge into monetary velocity. ...

