Insights

Four years of quantitative easing and an essentially zero percent target rate have certainly had an impact on the bond markets and corporate cash management. We saw the Fed's balance sheet balloon to over $3 trillion in January, the ten-year Treasury note hit an all-time low of 1.39 percent in July of last year, and U.S. corporate bond issuance had a record year with over $1.3 trillion in new issuance. Now that we are two months into 2013, it might be worthwhile to take a look at how this year is shaping up in terms of corporate bond issuance and what that means for corporate cash investment portfolios.

QE3, QE Infinity, Q-Eternity are just some of the expressions for what the Fed's latest round of stimulus has been dubbed. At the September FOMC meeting, policy makers embarked on further accommodation in the form of mortgage-backed security purchases in an effort to stimulate growth in the midst of persistently high unemployment, headwinds stemming from the European debt crisis and an imminent tightening of fiscal policy. The interesting point about QE3 is that it is open-ended. This means that the Fed will continue to purchase bonds or employ additional policy tools until the labor market improves "substantially" which then brings into question its forward guidance of mid-2015.