Introduction: QE stands for Quantitative easing, A tranche of Monetary policy employed by Central Banks to Lower interest rates and in turn boost the economy. In short, this is achieved by the New money being used to buy financial assets likes bonds or Mortgage backed securities (MBS) which with a rising price forced on by the relentless buying will force the yield lower. A great article explaining more about QE can be found here by Scramble. This method has been used a handful of times in economic history, notably by the Bank of Japan a decade ago when they faced the possibility of a Keynesian liquidity trap and deflation. However in the last 5 years it has been used by the US, UK, and the Eurozone. In the US, there have been 3 rounds of QE, it first came about right after the financial crisis in late 2008 at which point the Federal Reserve started purchasing MBS’s. Alongside cutting the base rate to almost zero, it increased its balance sheet by around $1.4 Trillion. Then in late 2010 it came out with QE2 with an aim to buy $600 Billion of treasuries. Most importantly is in the last few days – 13th September – the Federal Reserve announced “QE3” "To support a stronger economic…
