economy

Federal Reserve Balance Sheet Update: Week Of August 5

by economy on 07/08/09 at 7:53 am

Total Federal Reserve balance sheet assets for the week of August 5 of $1,988 billion consisting of:

• Securities held outright: $1,354 billion
  (a monthly increase of $125 billion MoM, resulting from $35.9 billion in new
  Treasury purchases and $80.4 billion increase in Fed Agency Debt)
• Net borrowings: $282 billion (a decline of $57 billion month over month)
• Float, liquidity swaps, Maiden Lane and other assets: $282 billion
  (a recent record decrease of $76 billion month over month due to a continued reduction in Central Bank
  Liquidity Swaps ($49 billion) and ($32) billion in CPFF outstandings).
• Foreign
  central bank liquidity swaps are again at the lowest level since the Lehman bankruptcy ($77 billion) – the level in 2008 pre-Lehman was $62 billion. The Fed is aggressively recalling any and all liquidity swaps.

Foreign holdings
of USTs and Agencies increased by $23.5 billion monthly to
$2,810 billion from $2,787 billion in the prior month. This is now about 20% less than the comparable increase in Securities Held Outright by the
Federal Reserve, implying foreign purchasers are starting to fall far behind in their purchases of US securities relative to the Fed’s monetization rate.

The Federal Reserve’s Monetary Base number of $1,663 billion was unchanged from the prior week.

Total Federal Reserve’s Monetary Base number of $57 billion in Central Bank
Liquidity Swaps ($49 billion) – the comparable increase in the week of $57 billion increase of $1,663 billion in CPFF outstandings).