(Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday the central bank balance sheet expansion reported last week that had followed months of contraction was not a form of monetary policy stimulus.
“The balance sheet expansion is really temporary lending to banks” and “it’s not intended to directly alter the stance of monetary policy,” Powell said at his press conference following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
Fed holdings surged last week due to record discount window lending to banks and other credit extensions that happened in the wake the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
(Reporting by Michael S. Derby, Editing by Franklin Paul)
