http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...edName=topNews
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday vowed to pump an additional $1 trillion into the U.S. economy in an aggressive bid to battle a deep recession, partly by buying government bonds for the first time since the 1960s.
Concluding a two-day policy meeting, the central bank said it would buy up to $300 billion in longer-term Treasuries to bring down borrowing costs, harkening back to a program called "Operation Twist" that ran from 1961 to 1965.
The decision caught many off guard and jolted markets.
While the Fed had said it was considering such a move, it had downplayed it in recent weeks. As recently as March 6, New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley had said buying longer-term government debt was not the most efficient way to ease credit market strains.
The price of U.S. government bonds surged after the announcement, with yields taking their biggest one-day tumble since 1987. Stock prices also shot higher, while the dollar plunged.
wow pretty crazy move. Who knew this would actually happen, especially after being downplayed for so long?