"The U.S. has got some legs, at least for the next couple of quarters," Jim O'Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television in Italy before the report. "There remain all sorts of issues, but I think the U.S. is going to continue to positively surprise."
Fed Purchase
The Fed bought $2.09 billion of Treasuries today maturing from February 2036 to August 2041 as part of a program to replace $400 billion of shorter-term debt in its holdings with longer maturities to hold down borrowing costs.
The central bank purchased $2.3 trillion of debt under two rounds of quantitative easing from December 2008 to June 2011 to support the economy.
Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said the central bank may need to raise interest rates before late 2014 and additional stimulus isn't necessary as the U.S. economy shows signs of strength.
"We should not anticipate additional accommodation," Plosser said yesterday in Wilmington, Delaware. "In the absence of some shock that derails the recovery, we may well need to raise rates before the end of 2014."
Fed on Economy
The Fed has said economic conditions will probably warrant keeping its benchmark rate at almost zero until at least late 2014. It has kept its target for overnight lending between banks in a range of zero to 0.25 percent since December 2008.
Treasuries rose yesterday as investors sought the safest assets on speculation Europe's debt crisis will worsen again. Greece will probably have to restructure its debt for a second time, Moritz Kraemer, head of sovereign ratings at Standard & Poor's, said March 28.
European governments capped fresh rescue lending at 500 billion euros ($666 billion), after a Germany-led coalition opposed a further expansion of the region's anti-debt-crisis firewall.