At its last meeting the Federal Reserve extended operation twist through the end of the year whereby it sells its shorter term Treasuries and purchases longer term Treasuries to keep the yield on the Ten Year Treasury as low as possible. The primary objective is to lower mortgage rates to encourage home buying and mortgage refinancing. At the meeting the Fed lowered its anticipated inflation rate to 1.75% and its 2012 anticipated unemployment rate to 8.2% for 2012. The Fed didn't launch QE3 primarily because of the upcoming November 2012 Presidential Elections and an interest in seeing more data. If the Federal ... (full story)