The Fed's $700B Bazooka Misfires, Feat. CoinDesk's Michael Casey and Noelle Acheson

Far from reassuring the markets, the Fed’s dramatic action over the weekend seems to have spooked them instead.

By Nathaniel Whittemore

Mar 16, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 8:19 a.m. UTC

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Nathaniel Whittemore

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Far from reassuring the markets, the Federal Reserve’s dramatic action over the weekend seems to have spooked them instead.

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Over the weekend, the Fed decided it couldn’t wait for Wednesday’s planned meeting to act, cutting interest rates to nearly 0 percent. It also announced $700 billion of direct capital injection through the purchase of Treasury securities and mortgage-backed debt.

The question is whether this action can actually calm markets. So far, it’s not looking great. Within minutes, emergency circuit breakers were triggered again. Markets are down more than 9 percent on the day.

In this episode, @NLW chats with CoinDesk Chief Content Officer Michael Casey and Director of Research Noelle Acheson about:

Why the market isn’t impressed with Fed action
Why no Fed response will be enough on its own to solve the health crisis and the resulting economic dislocation
Why we’re going to see more conversations in the coming weeks about UBI, MMT and other direct citizen stimulus

Watch: What Does The Fed's 0% Rate Cut Say About Bitcoin?

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Nathaniel Whittemore

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Nathaniel Whittemore