Yellen Revealing Twists With No Turns

Vice Chairman Janet Yellen says the end of the Federal Reserve’s so-called Operation Twist won’t amount to a tightening of monetary policy. Whether investors agree may help determine the central bank’s next steps.

The Fed’s program to swap $400 billion of short-term securities in its portfolio for longer-term debt is scheduled to be completed in June, and Yellen, 65, doesn’t see the need for additional stimulus purely to blunt the impact. That’s because the measure eases policy by expanding the Fed’s balance sheet, not through the flow of purchases, she said April 11.