The Federal Reserve ended the quantitative easing effort known as QE3 on Wednesday, calling time on a program that once bought $85 billion a month in mortgage bonds and Treasurys.
Just since the beginning of 2012, the Fed's balance sheet has grown by more than 50 percent.
As of Oct. 22, the Fed held $2.46 trillion in Treasury securities and $1.71 trillion in mortgage-backed securities, according to the latest statement of factors affecting reserve balances.
| Click to edit | 9/13/2012 | Today | % Chg. |
|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 1459.99 | 1,984.78 | 35.90% |
| Dow | 13539.86 | 17,003.07 | 25.60% |
| NASDAQ | 3155.83 | 4,547.62 | 44.10% |
| US Dollar | 79.26 | 85.25 | 7.60% |
| Basis Points | |||
| 10-Year | 1.721 | 2.3174 | 0.5964 |
| 30-Year | 2.928 | 3.0846 | 0.1566 |
In the 25 months since QE3 started, all major U.S. stock markets are up substantially, led by Nasdaq's 44 percent gain.