Israeli Central Bank to Use Its Reserves to Buy US Equities

Not even bonds yet, but stocks?

It makes sense that some Central Banks have started to buy in the stock markets for private corporations. After all, central banks have always held the debt of their sovereigns, and this is just the reality of corporatism.

It is hard to figure out who might be more upset about this story: the US stock bears, or the Israeli taxpayers.

Well, Stan Fischer, the Governor of the Bank of Israel, was Ben Bernanke's mentor at MIT. Maybe he is just helping?

This adds a new dimension of flexibility to the Fed's swap lines with foreign central banks.

Can you say ponzi scheme, bubbe? ?????? ?????

I know it's over when the fat lady sings, but the cantor?

Bloomberg
Israel to Begin Investing Reserves in U.S Equities Today
By Alisa Odenheimer
Mar 1, 2012 4:45 AM ET

The Bank of Israel will begin today a pilot program to invest a portion of its foreign currency reserves in U.S. equities.

The investment, which in the initial phase will amount to 2 percent of the $77 billion reserves, or about $1.5 billion, will be made through UBS AG and BlackRock Inc. (BLK), Bank of Israel spokesman Yossi Saadon said in a telephone interview today. At a later stage, the investment is expected to increase to 10 percent of the reserves.

A small number of central banks have started investing part of their reserves in equities. About 9 percent of the foreign- exchange reserves of Switzerland’s central bank were invested in shares at the end of the third quarter, the Swiss bank said on its website.

The investment will be made in equity index trackers and will include between 1,500 to 2,000 shares, among them stocks like Apple Inc. (AAPL), Saadon said.

The central bank decided to add equities to its investment portfolio in order to diversify, reduce risk and give better performance, Barry Topf, senior adviser to Governor Stanley Fischer, said in a Dec. 1 interview.

Note: When they say 'Securities' on the balance sheet below, they mean debt as in sovereign bonds. I don't know how they will characterize equities.