Fed to buy up to $300B long-term Treasury bonds - Yahoo! Finance

The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday it will start buying long-term government bonds, its latest step to try to lift the country out of recession.

The Fed said it will buy up to $300 billion in long-term Treasury securities over the next six months. The Fed also said it will buy more mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in a move to help the crippled mortgage market. The central bank will buy an additional $750 billion, bringing its total purchases of these securities to $1.25 trillion. It also will boost its purchase of Fannie and Freddie debt.

The last time the Fed set out to influence long-term interest rates was during the 1960s with Operation Twist, conceived by the Kennedy administration.

Across the Atlantic, the Bank of England last week began buying government bonds from financial institutions as it turned to other ways to help revive Britain's moribund economy.

Fed to buy up to $300B long-term Treasury bonds