Fed Stimulus Has Led to $1 Trillion Bond Rally, Confounding Critics

If you decided not to buy and hold U.S. Treasuries because you listened to all those academics, billionaires, and politicians who have denounced Federal Reserve monetary policy since the financial crisis, you missed a chance to share in $1 trillion of investment returns. That’s how much government bonds have earned for investors since the end of 2008, when the Fed lowered interest rates close to zero and embarked on the first of three rounds of debt purchases to resuscitate the economy. This year, Treasuries maturing in 10 years or more have rallied 14.2 percent, beating the 10.2 percent return for the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index.