Impact of the Federal Reserve's Corporate Credit Facility on S&P 500 during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a downward trend in the US stock market, the Federal Reserve has implemented an innovative Corporate Credit Facility (CCF) program from March 23 to December 31, 2020. The CCF aims to purchase the eligible corporate bonds and ETFs under the Primary Market Corporate Credit Facility (PMCCF) and Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility (SMCCF). Firstly, our result shows that the Corporate Credit Facility program has stabilized the return of the S&P 500 by 0.68 in variance reduction. Secondly, the SMCCF has exhibited a better effect on the stock market compared with PMCCF. The coefficient of SMCCF is statistically significant. However, announcement and PMCCF are not significant in the variance equation. Thirdly, the joint Wald test of PMCCF and SMCCF positively and significantly affect the return of the S&P 500, evidenced by the mean equation. Lastly, the announcement of CCF has an adverse effect on the S&P 500. It can be concluded that the Fed's Corporate Credit Facility has been innovative in combating the financial market's instability.

Citation

Li, Y., Lau, W.-Y. and Goh, L.-T. (2022), "Impact of the Federal Reserve's Corporate Credit Facility on S&P 500 during COVID-19 Pandemic", Lee, C.-F. and Yu, M.-T. (Ed.) Advances in Pacific Basin Business, Economics and Finance (Advances in Pacific Basin Business, Economics and Finance, Vol. 10), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 125-144. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2514-465020220000010006