Market strength prompts Fed to begin corporate bond unwind

摘要

A little over a year after the US Federal Reserve began buying corporate bonds and ETFs in the secondary market to help stabilise debt markets hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, the central bank has decided it will begin selling off those assets. The Fed was expected to hold the bonds until maturity, but announced on Wednesday it will begin selling off its US$13.7bn corporate bond holdings gradually, starting on June 7 with its ETF portfolio. The holdings include some US$5.2bn of individual investment-grade bonds issued by companies such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon as well as U$8.6bn of high-grade and high-yield ETFs.