Quantitative Tightening: Unwinding Central Bank Balance Sheets

Quantitative tightening (QT), the unwinding of the large scale of purchases of a broad range of financial assets by central banks, has become a feature of monetary policy since the great financial crisis. Though central banks around the world have already started this process, given the many distractors in the market, such as the global banking crisis and the U.S. debt ceiling brinkmanship, QT has gone on somewhat unnoticed. That said, as we near the end of hiking cycles and the paths of short-term interest rates become clearer, we expect markets to shift their focus to QT. Exactly how do central banks intend to unwind their bloated balance sheets? PGIM Fixed Income’s Katharine Neiss, PhD, Deputy Head of Global Economics and Chief European Economist, and Bethany Payne, CFA, Developed Market Rates Portfolio Manager, join this episode of All the Credit® to help us better understand QT and explore its potential market and economic impacts. First, we’ll take a look at quantitative easing (QE), the process by which central banks expand their balance sheets by buying up financial assets on a massive scale, why they do this, and how this tool fits into their policy options to help achieve their price stability mandates. Then we’ll look at the reasons why central banks are so motivated to unwind their balance sheets and reverse QE, the constraints they face, and the potential risks to financial markets. We’ll wrap up with some thoughts on how successful we think QE and QT have been thus far and if central banks will be able to turn to these tools as readily in the future. Michael Roper, CFA, European Investment Grade Corporate Bond Portfolio Manager, returns to All the Credit® as host, alongside Mike Collins, CFA, Senior Portfolio Manager for Multi-Sector Strategies. Recorded on June 9, 2023.