With the need for exponentially larger expansions of the central bank balance sheets - and most importantly, the rate of expansion (flow) not just the size (stock) - we thought it useful to see just how the Fed's actions had impacted the S&P 500. From the lows in March 2009, 1150 S&P points have been 'created-or-saved' thanks to central bank largesse. That is a cost of $2 billion (not million!) for every S&P 500 point since the Fed started to expands its balance sheet by $2.3 trillion. Money-well-spent, we are sure you'll agree. In the meantime, it is the printing-endgames that we care about and the horrible sense of deja vu that the following chart inspires should at minimum see investors scaling back (which it appears the sensible retail investor is) - despite the imploring of every long-only asset manager.
The S&P 500 overlaid with the various Fed experiments...
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And it seems like the balance sheets of the central banks need to expand at an ever-increasing rate just to stand still in terms of asset prices...
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Does make one wonder what the 'real' value of the S&P 500 would have been without all that assistance?
But we are heading towards the end of Operation Twist and given the previous examples we have seen, it seems we are echoing once again...
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Charts: Bloomberg