by Tom Lewis, Gold Telegraph:

The Federal Reserve balance continues to grow at a rampant rate as it hit a record of $6.72 trillion as the Fed continued aggressively buying treasuries and mortgage-backed securities.

• Total assets held by the Fed rose by $65.5b in the week through May 6, according to data published Thursday on its website

• Borrowing through the Commercial Paper Funding Facility rose to $3.99b from $3.37b


• Small-business loans backstopped by the Fed’s Paycheck Protection Program Liquidity Facility, launched on April 16, stood at $29.2b, up from $19.5b a week earlier


• Liquidity swaps with foreign central banks rose to $444.9b, up from $439.0b the previous week, as the Fed continued to ease access to dollar funding worldwide


• Loans through the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility fell to $42.8b from $46.3b the week before


• Lending through the Primary Dealer Credit Facility fell to $14.9b from $25.5b


• Borrowing by banks from the Fed’s discount window fell to $26.5b from $31.8b

Meanwhile, unemployment in the United States continues on its parabolic path as the unemployment rate exploded to 14.7% in April. It is important to note that the real jobless rate is at least 20%.

The reason the unemployment figure is obscured is due to the Bureau of Labor Statistics has said not all workers accurately responded to a question about their employment status. Some people who weren’t working but still considered themselves as having a job didn’t end up being counted as unemployed.

Had these workers answered the government’s monthly survey correctly, the BLS estimates the official unemployment rate would be nearly 20% today.

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