By Michael S. Derby
NEW YORK (Reuters) -An official responsible for implementing Federal Reserve monetary policy said on Friday markets navigated last month’s heavy market stress well, as the central bank moves toward enhancing a key liquidity tool.
“Although liquidity in Treasury cash markets became strained in early April, those markets continued to function, in part because of the resilience of funding liquidity in the Treasury repo market,” said Roberto Perli, the manager of the Fed’s System Open Market Account, in the text of a speech prepared for delivery before a conference held by the central bank in Washington.
While markets navigated well this period of stress that followed the Trump administration’s announcement of massive trade tariffs on most of the world’s nations, Perli said the experience reaffirmed the need for the central bank to further explore how it can provide fast liquidity to markets.
To that end, in response to feedback from the financial community, Perli said that Standing Repo Facility, or SRF, operations will be made available in the morning as well as the afternoon in the “not-too-distant future.” He noted, “These early-settlement auctions, combined with the current afternoon auctions, will enhance the effectiveness of the SRF as a tool for monetary policy implementation and market functioning.”
The SRF allows eligible firms to quickly convert Treasury securities into cash at the Fed and is designed to help manage market liquidity needs.
It’s been largely dormant since being launched outside of one pocket of usage last year and was not tapped in any size during the market volatility early last month. The Fed has already offered early day SRF operations around quarter-ends and making that a regular option lines up with market expectations.
Despite last month’s market tumult the Fed did not intervene to support markets. Last month Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the orderly nature of the trading even with the volatility meant there was no need for intervention, and he said it would be a high bar for the central bank to step in to help markets.
(Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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