(Reuters) – The Federal Reserve’s stash of bonds and other assets grew to nearly $7 trillion this week, but several of its programs are seeing slackening demand from banks and investors and a much-anticipated corporate bond buying facility bought little in its first two days of operations.
The Fed’s weekly report of holdings inside its massive balance sheet showed total assets rose by $212 billion in the week ended May 13 to $6.98 trillion as its pace of mortgage bond purchases picked up.
The data showed its first-ever holdings of corporate bonds totaled just $305 million after the newest emergency facility launched by the central bank kicked off purchases on Tuesday.
(Reporting By Dan Burns; Editing by Chris Reese)
