As of 8 April, the total assets held by the US Federal Reserve, the American central bank, stood at $6.08 trillion, the highest they have ever been.
The size of Fed’s balance sheet has rapidly expanded since the end of February. What’s happening here? Mint takes a look Why is the Fed balance sheet expanding? Since 26 February, the total assets of the Fed have gone up by around $1.92 trillion, or 46.3%, to touch $6.08 trillion on 8 April (see chart below).
The Fed is printing money and buying bonds. This is technically referred to as quantitative easing (QE). This has led to the US central bank’s total assets going up significantly in just 40 days.