I told you NOT to call on the poker bluff being peddled by some analysts and officials who claim that there will be no extension of Quantitative Easing 2.0.
Chairman Ben Bernanke floats the trial balloon for QE 3.0.
From Marketwatch.com (bold emphasis mine)
While the Federal Reserve believes that the temporary shocks holding down economic activity will pass, the central bank is examining several untested means to stimulate growth if conditions deteriorate, including another round of asset purchases, dubbed QE3, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday in remarks prepared for the House Financial Services Committee. Bernanke discussed three approaches to further easing in his prepared remarks. One option, Bernanke said, would be for the Fed to provide more "explicit guidance" to the pledge that rates will stay low for "an extended period." Another approach would be another round of asset purchases, or quantitative easing, or for the Fed to "increase the average maturity of our holdings." Finally, the Fed could also reduce the quarter percentage point rate of interest that it pays to banks on their reserves, "thereby putting downward pressure on short-term rates more generally." Bernanke was clear to stress that easing was not the only option under consideration and that the next Fed move could well be to tighten. At the moment, Fed officials see a recovery that "will likely remain moderate," Bernanke said, with the unemployment rate falling "only gradually." Inflation is expected to subside in coming months, he said
There you have it. QE 3.0 is on the pipeline.
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