Editing Federal Reserve (section)

====Quantitative easing (QE) policy====
A little-used tool of the Federal Reserve is the quantitative easing policy.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 5, 2022 |title=Why Quantitative Tightening Is on the Fed's Agenda Again |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-05/for-fed-taper-rates-then-quantitative-tightening-quicktake |access-date=April 3, 2022 |website=Bloomberg}}</ref> Under that policy, the Federal Reserve buys back corporate bonds and mortgage backed securities held by banks or other financial institutions. This in effect puts money back into the financial institutions and allows them to make loans and conduct normal business.
The bursting of the [[United States housing bubble]] prompted the Fed to buy mortgage-backed securities for the first time in November 2008. Over six weeks, a total of $1.25&nbsp;trillion were purchased in order to stabilize the housing market, about one-fifth of all U.S. government-backed mortgages.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 26, 2010 |title=Federal Reserve Mortgage Purchase Program: Planet Money |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=129451895 |access-date=August 29, 2011 |publisher=NPR}}</ref>