The Federal Reserve is targeting unemployment.
The Federal Reserve said in September it would buy $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities a month until the labor market rebounds. The goal: to free up banks to lend more.
It's the Fed's third attempt since 2008 to use this tactic, called quantitative easing.
Targeting the 8%-plus jobless rate, QE3, as it's known, is likely to hold down mortgage rates which in October hit a 60-year low of 3.36%.
The Fed also plans to keep short-term rates near zero through mid-2015, so get used to current savings yields (recently averaging 0.12%).
And if you're looking to beef up bond fund income, Morningstar Investment Management economist Francisco Torralba suggests short-term corporates, which yield about 2% today. Though the risk of inflation is low, he says, a spike would hit higher-yielding long-term bonds harder.
Related: Bond investing basics 
| The Winklevoss twins are Bitcoin bulls | ||
| Bernanke's advice for college grads | ||
| Signs of new housing bubble in several areas | ||
| Bloomberg's lazy Apple bias | ||
| Stocks finish higher for fourth straight week |
| Overnight Avg Rate | Latest | Change | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 yr fixed | 3.66% | 3.58% | |
| 15 yr fixed | 2.79% | 2.72% | |
| 5/1 ARM | 2.59% | 2.57% | |
| 30 yr refi | 3.64% | 3.57% | |
| 15 yr refi | 2.79% | 2.72% |
Today's featured rates:
.
