FED Announces $750 Billion More and Poof!... MBS Prices Surge, Rates Drop

'Rambo Fed' Will Buy Treasuries To Combat Crisis (Bloomberg, 03/19/2009)

"Yesterday’s decisions will add $750 billion in purchases this year of mortgage-backed securities issued by government- sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, for a total of $1.25 trillion. The Fed has already announced $217.1 billion in net purchases out of $500 billion planned through June, under a program unveiled in November.

The central bank will also double to as much as $200 billion this year its planned purchases of debt issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Federal Home Loan Banks. The Fed bought $44.4 billion of the so-called agency debt as of March 11."

And here's a snapshot of what happened in the Agency MBS market:

Fannie Mae 4.5 coupon


Rates improved by .125% to .25% yesterday afternoon.